Abyss
by Valksy
Summary: A journey to the edge of darkness.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: **Lost Girl and its characters are the property of Canwest Global, Bo Series Inc and Prodigy Pictures. No infringement was intended in the writing of this fanfiction story.

**ARCHIVING:** Only with permission of the author.

**CONTACT:** LostValksy AT gmail DOT com

**TIMELINE:** This story takes place after season 2, written before season 3.

**Abyss**

**by Valksy**

Crowing to herself in pleasure, the slight Russian girl posed in front of Bo's mirror, turning this way and that in admiration. Kenzi hummed her own approval at how her new boots made her legs seem so long and shapely, her magpie eyes drawn to elaborate polished chrome buckles, studs and zippers.

"Are you ready?" Bo asked as she leaned close to the mirror to check her eyeliner.

Kenzi dragged her attention away from herself and studied her best friend carefully. Bo's stress was evident to experienced eyes; a mild crease forming on her brow and her mouth a harsh and narrowed line. Bo's hunger was etched all over her beautiful face and vibrating from her in the form of nervous energy.

Kenzi saw the predatory need within Bo to seek prey and feed and knew that Bo would fight as long and as hard as she could, testing her limits and stretching them to fracturing point. Jokes about _lucky boots_ and _getting lucky boots_ faded on Kenzi's tongue. Bo's stoic nature drove her to conceal her torment, the pain that she faced, the inevitability of her appetite. Despite everything that they had endured, Bo still strived to keep her burden to herself.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Kenzi agreed.

"You both look great." Comfortable and at ease, Lauren leaned against the bedroom doorframe. "I got tired of waiting downstairs. Why do women take so long?" A crooked, easygoing and lively grin graced Lauren's features.

"You ruined it," Kenzi mock-grumbled, theatrically sighing and rolling her eyes before jutting out a hip. "We were going to catwalk for you. Patience is a virtue you know."

Kenzi's prim expression, as well as her appeal to virtue, brightened Lauren's smile and brought a reluctant huff of laughter from Bo.

Lauren made a show of looking over both women from head to toe. They had chosen dark shades and form-fitting fabrics that ably displayed Kenzi's lean physique and Bo's luxurious curves and trim waist. Dressed for a night out, Kenzi's chic industrial gothic style contrasted with Bo's natural sensuality. Lauren noted that Bo was wearing a top with a plunging neckline beneath her leather jacket, her knee-high boots and short skirt revealed smooth thighs.

Aware of her lover's scrutiny, Bo squirmed uneasily at her own display of overt sexuality, as if there could be any doubt of her intention for the evening. Bo battled the urge to reach for the zipper of her jacket and cover herself.

The quick-witted doctor watched doubt and conflict play across Bo's unguarded features. Warmed by Bo's nature, so honest and pure in a world of half-truths and secrecy, Lauren recognized the vulnerability that Bo had spent years armoring herself against. Eager to chase away the shadows and offer some of her own belief to Bo, Lauren joined her at the mirror.

Practical fingers softly brushed Bo's cheek before sliding beneath her chin and directing Bo to lift her head with a subtle touch. Lauren waited for Bo to yield and reluctantly meet her gaze, greeting Bo's questioning suspicion with affection and trust. Keeping Bo's chin cupped in her hand, Lauren used the other to release the binding that restrained long lush hair and teased away the braiding. Lauren allowed cool, glossy strands to slide through her fingers, listening as Bo released a soft sigh at the caress.

"Never apologize for who you are, Bo." Lauren spoke softly and clearly, seeking to be a strong voice against Bo's wounds.

Lauren steeled herself to set aside her reason and listen instead to her heart as well as her instinct to offer a lifeline to stop Bo from falling into despair.. The kindhearted doctor knew that, whatever clever words she could use, however she argued her point and offered comfort and guidance, Bo's impulse would be to resist. Lauren released her careful inhibitions and let her body speak.

Lauren drew Bo to her and brushed a light kiss against her lips, sweet and chaste. Once sure that she would not be rejected, Lauren leaned closer and kissed Bo's sternly set mouth again.

"Never say sorry, Bo," Lauren whispered, her voice dropping to a sultry and sensual timbre. The honey-haired woman offered herself to her lover, body pressed firmly against body. Lauren licked Bo's bottom lip briefly before sealing her mouth to Bo's once more for a cherished kiss.

Bo moaned quietly, the sound resonating from deep within her chest and exhaled against Lauren's cheek. At Lauren's gentle inquiry, Bo parted her lips and savored the taste of her mouth.

The two women kissed slowly and deeply, sucking and nibbling at one another's lips, sharing breaths and soft sounds of pleasure. Bo languidly draped her arms over Lauren's shoulders. In return, Lauren dropped her hands to Bo's waist, before sliding them beneath Bo's leather jacket to cruise her sleek muscular back and then glide lower to palm her firm backside.

Panting softly, her mouth already feeling kiss-bruised from Bo's fledgling hunger, Lauren leaned back on her heels to break away. The blonde's eyes danced with animated good humor as Bo smoldered for her, dark and brooding desire seething from the succubus and projecting her lust. Lauren stood her ground against the profound longing to melt for Bo, to take her hand and plead with her to stay.

The human faced her Fae lover and squared her jaw as she summoned her strength. "Go," Lauren said patiently. "I'm heading back to my apartment to do some work. If you want to join me later, let yourself in, you know the door code." Lauren sounded each word with care and precision, tapping into well-practiced and formidable reserves of balanced composure. "If you want to go home and sleep it off, that's fine too. I will see you tomorrow."

Bo tilted her head curiously as Lauren spoke, searching her face for the censure and reproach which Bo's experience had told her would inevitably come. Lauren's heart ached for her lover's anticipation of abandonment and betrayal, how uncompromising kindness seemed to confound her.

"Go on," Lauren repeated. The doctor's dark eyes drifted to Kenzi's glacial blue, searching for support. "I won't wait up. It's all right, no apologies, Bo."

Kenzi grasped Bo's arm and prompted her to follow, alert to Bo's disorientation and taking control. The small thief caught a brief flash of gratitude from Lauren, enough for Kenzi to see but too discrete for Bo to notice. Kenzi responded with a curious and questioning glance as she guided Bo to the door, her eyebrows raised high as distrust radiated unapologetically from her.

Steeling herself to not be wounded by Kenzi's skepticism, and certain that Bo would not see through her own disturbance, Lauren lifted her chin and dared the younger woman to offer a challenge.

Lauren waited for the gruff engine rumble of Bo's decrepit car to depart before she allowed her courage to fail her. Lauren's knees buckled as her strength and resolve collapsed and she slouched to the edge of Bo's bed. One elegant hand covered her mouth to restrain agonized gasping breaths, the other fell to the bed sheet beneath her. The memory of cool satin against her bared skin, caressing her back and draping her hips as she made love to Bo, offered no consolation.

Lauren closed her eyes tightly and coached herself to take deep steadying breaths, relying on habits which were long-formed and well-established, to manage and contain her distress. Years of practice had schooled her to manage and accept her pain as best she could. Her natural stoicism refused to let Lauren bow her head and cry for herself or for Bo.


	2. Chapter 2

Kenzi slouched in her seat and picked at the stuffing leaking from the upholstery as she watched Bo drive. Bo's face was set as harsh and cold as stone as she tried to hold her cards close to her chest even in front of her most trusted friend.

Kenzi had witnessed Bo fighting the darkness within, and seen how Bo wounded herself as she wounded others. Kenzi's hard earned experience of confidence trickery, of cold-reading people and learning body language, showed her that the desolation and stress streaming from Bo was so extreme that their mission was doomed to failure.

"That was all kinds of weird," Kenzi began, once she had decided that Bo would stay a closed book without prompting.

Bo spared her a glance, enough to indicate that she was listening and at least receptive to anything that Kenzi had to say.

"Lauren, I mean," Kenzi continued. "Did you know she was planning to come over?"

"No," Bo answered shortly.

"But she must have realized?" Kenzi persisted. "I guess she knew you were wiped out." The younger woman received another sharp and incredulous glare. "She couldn't do it for you?"

"No," Bo sighed.

"Wouldn't?" Kenzi fenced, aware that she would need to dredge the truth from her friend. Bo's features creased in a scowl of distaste at the notion and she set her lips into a hard line. "Did you even ask?" Kenzi pressed.

"No," Bo snapped, harsher than before. "I won't do it." The succubus directed her attention resolutely back to the road, dismissing the idea and closing the debate. "Where are we going?"

Kenzi pulled her phone from her pocket and consulted the display for news on the location of the underground club. Bo hunted best in places without cameras, bouncers or regular customers. Kenzi relied on her connections to find the latest location, as the party rarely took place in the same location twice.

The goth girl had followed the music to lose herself in the beat, in the fashions and trends of her own kind. The outsiders, those on the fringe, were the perfect targets for Bo. Offering the counter-culture to the succubus, giving her a hunting ground, chilled the Russian and sent her mind into retreat. "No address yet," Kenzi reported. "Keep circling."

"Definitely a party tonight?"

Kenzi turned the screen away so that her frown would not be illuminated. Bo's sharp voice, and the white knuckles gripping the steering wheel, suggested that her need was stronger that usual. The Fae woman had pushed herself further into hunger than she usually risked. "For sure," Kenzi agreed, and hoped that her contacts would not fail her.

Bo released a relieved breath and forced herself to focus on driving around the block once more. Hunger had piqued her nerves all day, resisting all of her attempts to suppress or ignore it, and had escalated in to physical discomfort that tested her endurance and will. Misery and pain had faded briefly in the tranquil light of Lauren's unexpected consent, but the insidious shadow of her appetite was merciless.

The increasingly feral demands from her body threatened to unravel Bo's carefully cultivated discipline. Seeking solace and a moment of peace from the tempest, Bo turned her mind to Lauren and the kiss that they had shared to seal their covenant. Bo's body responded at once to the memory of the kiss, recalling the flavor of Lauren's mouth. Her heartbeat began to rush once more, her senses surging and making her wet.

The kiss, the deep, delicious, beautiful kiss, had thrilled Bo, while challenged her fading powers of restraint. Sensing Lauren's passion was easy; it was so clear, so obvious, so completely honest and radiant. The older woman could never have hidden the strength and purity of her interest, even in moments of doubt and confusion a part of her always reached out to Bo, and Bo felt her body respond every time.

The desire that Lauren had sparked to life sent embers through Bo's chest, down through her belly and lower still. Bo's sensitivity to arousal provoked her profound and primitive instinct to hunt for new partners. What others might term a sex drive was a life drive for Bo, a constant noise in the back of her mind that was never truly quiet and never granted peace. Nerves cracking with energy, demanding excitement and stimulation, demanded that lust be sated. The compulsion for release was so powerful and sharp that it hurt. Bo battled a yearning to cup her hand between her legs, as if she could protect herself.

The aching succubus knew that the ceaseless clamor, in union with her irresistible urge to feed, would diminish her options until she was overcome by visceral and innate need to yield to her nature. Libido demanded it of her and she would lose the power to choose as her will was compromised and shattered.

Bo gritted her teeth against the pain and coached herself to take steady and slow breaths as she scolded herself for disdaining the gifts that her legacy granted her. Bo reconciled that protesting in front of the human girl would be churlish, and would shatter Kenzi's rarified and romantic sensibilities regarding the Fae. For Bo to share the truth was to damn her capacity to heal, her longevity and her natural prowess, and would only cause wounds. The inevitable surrender to carnality or murder could never be truly appreciated or understood, and Bo was not sure that she could bring herself to try again.

"How bad?" Kenzi asked.

The slender woman's playful trickster was absent and her soft and considerate tone confounded Bo, serving as a reminder that Kenzi was both warm and sharp, ingenue and worldly, avaricious and yet generous to her last. "Been better," Bo sighed.

"How many?" Kenzi clarified patiently.

"Two, if they're fit." Bo made another turn to circle the block again and tried to ignore the amplified and urgent throbbing between her legs.

Kenzi slouched against the car door and watched Bo check her mirrors. Stress sharpened her friend's features and made Bo seem wolfish and predatory. Bo's knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel and the muscle in her jaw ticked with barely contained tension.

"Three, maybe?" Kenzi suggested. "Just to get topped up?" Kenzi winced at the next gear change. "It's not going to hurt her any more or less if you do."

Bo swerved to the roadside and shifted to neutral. The sudden movement jolted Kenzi roughly and forced her to put a hand out to the dashboard to steady herself. Bo slowly rubbed her forehead with thumb and fingers, closing her eyes and breathing deeply, as she tried to quiet the disquieting imperative of her nature that tempted her to view Kenzi as potential prey.

"Bo?" Kenzi rested a light hand on Bo's solid shoulder and ignored the sigh that the touch earned her. "It's not going to work if you can't strut your hot stuff." The goth girl found herself picturing their first meeting, when Bo was so unreachable and ready to run.

"Talk?" Kenzi prompted, aware that she was offering light and a lifeline as Bo struggled with a painful burden that was threatening to choke her. "Because you're not going to be able to do it like this, so tell me what's on your mind."

Bo moistened her lips and took another deep breath as her control frayed and left her exposed. "I don't want to do it at all," Bo sighed, "I don't want to be forced this way." The glossy hair that Lauren had taken care to loosen tumbled forward to curtain Bo's face as her distress overwhelmed her.

Kenzi's delicate features creased with sorrow and tears of sympathy threatened to bloom. Conversations about sex, romance and relationships over a bottle of wine had been full of laughter and helped them build their bond, but Bo had always guarded herself. Kenzi conceded that she had not considered Bo's most fundamental truth; Bo prized choice above all else, because her own power to choose was an illusion.

Kenzi mentally cursed herself for not offering a moment of friendship and a friendly ear before Bo had escalated to compulsion to feed. "So, why not try this with the Doc?" The trickster cringed at her own clumsy and abrupt words. "You're not going to hurt her, you know that, right?"

"No, I don't know, and neither do you," Bo snapped. "Lauren would survive, that's all I can promise. When I'm with humans I don't exactly hang around and ask how it was for them when I'm done."

Kenzi softened her voice, alarmed by the bitterness in the succubus' tone. "Bo, she would get you through this if she could, she would try."

"I know," Bo murmured. "Even before, she always tried to help me, she always wanted to understand."

_Bo's fight with a Kappa had not left so much as a single scratch on her, but she accepted Lauren's request to perform a medical examination on her without protest. An agreement to meet Dyson later had left her with time to kill._

_The succubus sat placidly on the edge of the examination table. A pale blue hospital grown, loose and open at the back and over her shoulders, revealed an expanse of flawless skin from the nape of her neck to the elegant dip at the small of her back. With patient tolerance, she obediently allowed the doctor's exploration._

_The golden-haired doctor pressed her stethoscope against Bo's back and listened carefully to her strong and steady respiration, an unnecessary formality that Lauren did not dare to question too closely. The panel of tests showed that the succubus was a perfect specimen of womanhood in every way, and that the newest batch of the doctor's serum was showing no sign of any physiological effect._

"_How do you feel?" Lauren looped her stethoscope around her neck and walked across the lab to a workbench so that she could record her observations._

"_No different," Bo answered, her dark eyes tracking the doctor's confident movements as she worked. "Is that OK?"_

"_This isn't an exact science," Lauren reminded. "I think it's a positive sign that you're not having any side effects." The doctor cast another thoughtful glance to the still woman. "You know that you really need to tell me, even if it seems minor?"_

_Bo nodded shyly and watched as the doctor loaded another syringe. "More needles?" the succubus grumbled._

_The slender blonde flashed her a warm smile, lively intelligence radiating from her expressive features. "I'm sorry, Bo," she soothed. "I'll make it as painless as I can."_

_Fussy and hurried footfalls in the corridor beyond the laboratory snapped Lauren's attention to the door, her head canted to the side in an attentive and alert posture. With speed and deftness her agile fingers palmed the syringe, and she dropped her hand into the pocket of her lab coat._

_One of the many stocky and solid men in nondescript grey suits who populated the Light compound found himself toe to toe with the slightly built human woman who commanded the medical bay. "I'm with a patient," Lauren scolded her visitor._

_Lauren gestured to Bo, as if he could fail to notice the half-dressed succubus. The older woman's strength and command presence stilled Bo's doubts and quenched her instinct for confrontation. Lauren simply squared her shoulders and stared him down. "I will be free in an hour, come back then."_

_Once they were alone, Lauren let out a deep breath and shared a broad grin with Bo, mischief twinkling in her dark eyes. "You're not supposed to be helping me?" Bo nervously concluded._

"_Not exactly," Lauren shrugged. "For research purposes, given how rare you are, it makes sense for me to take notes and records." The fair-haired woman returned to Bo's side and withdrew the syringe from her pocket, taking care to tap out the bubbles. Lauren was too engrossed in her task to notice Bo's unease at the parading of her nature. "But to help you this way? Not really, no."_

_Bo offered her arm and muttered a sullen 'ow' as Lauren swabbed with a little alcohol to clean the skin, injected with a well-practiced motion and then discarding the needle safely. The younger woman felt a bilious coil of envy twist inside her. Lauren had lived a normal life of discovering her potential and fulfilling her training, a life that Bo doubted that she could live up to._

"_How does that feel?" Lauren prompted, interrupting the succubus' introspective condemnation of herself._

_Bo shook her head to clear the fog of mean-spirited and resentful thoughts and concentrated on answering the doctor's question. In order to temper her sexual need Bo had learned to suppress sensation. Managing her pain was a consequence of her own detachment. To feel discomfort, to allow herself to become completely aware of her body, Bo knew that she was required to relax the carefully constructed and well-practiced discipline that allowed her to to cope with heightened arousal and the hollow feeling deep inside - the one that told her that she was hungry. _

_Granting herself permission to discover if the serum headache was returning immediately awakened the persistent thump of need between Bo's legs._

_Forcing herself to relax into body consciousness, Bo's body immediately responded to the ever-present desire that Lauren felt for her. After her slip of composure on the first day that they met, the doctor had endeavored to be a consummate professional, taking care to guard and restrain herself, but Lauren's interest still shone through._

_The memory of the lanky blonde's indiscretion brought a smile to Bo's face. The succubus was used to people, sometimes in spite of themselves, reacting to her gift. Lauren had not shown a moment of confusion over her response to the dark-eyed and intense Fae woman. Lauren's interest was sustained and steady, confident and calm, and was an enveloping experience which had first surprised Bo before leaving her secretly pleased._

_Bo found herself mentally fishing for something to say that would not sound like an awareness of lust and an invitation - a skill that she had not bothered to practice in recent years. Bo feared that her lack of experience in the face of Lauren's sophistication and professionalism would leave her embarrassed and exposed. Intimidated and emotionally impotent, Bo sat in awkward silence._

"_So?" Lauren prompted._

"_Thinking about it," Bo allowed. "If I just go and let myself feel..."_

"_I see." Lauren's ever-curious eyes swept over Bo's face, noting the first signs of sweat and stress. "This is painful?"_

"_Sometimes." Bo stared down at the hands that she had clasped together in her lap, her shoulders fell as a childhood of shame and disgust weighed upon her. The hospital gown felt inadequate as her body began to sound its demands more urgently._

"_You need to have sex?" Lauren spoke softly and patiently. Bo nodded once and creased her brow into a deeper frown. "You're hungry?" The doctor carefully grasped Bo's wrist and turned her arm outward to view the inside of Bo's elbow. The needle mark and small bloom of blood beneath her skin had vanished. Disturbed by the scrutiny, Bo eased her arm free and folded it against her body._

"_The more injured you are, the greater your need." Lauren stated, testing her hypothesis. "But your body never stops regenerating, does it."_

"_No," Bo sighed, addressing the pristine floor. "Even if I'm careful, even if I avoid letting myself get tried, eventually I have to."_

_Lauren sounded a noise of appreciation, humming her approval at biology so refined that rapid cellular renewal was constant and perfect. Bo felt herself cringe. The ability to shake off fatigue, to heal bumps and bruises, to repair worn muscle fibers, required a steady drip of energy that would eventually demand to be replenished. If the damage was critical, the demand would be immediate and irresistible. The consequence had been brutal and fatal to whoever Bo targeted to fuel herself, stealing life from others, mortifying herself and ripping at her soul._

_Oblivious to Bo's concealed distress, Lauren persisted in her questioning. "And it's always better if you're having sex?"_

"_It's," Bo hesitated, her chest tightening with the burden of disclosure, "easier to do it, to open a channel between their chi and mine and pull it from them. And there's usually more of it to tap."_

"_Can you tell me?"_

_Lauren's request was offered so softly and gently that Bo was not sure at first that she had heard it clearly. Lauren cautiously rested her hand on Bo's arm, as if afraid that she would bolt, and moved to sit on the edge of the examination table beside the anguished woman. Removed from face-to-face confrontation, Lauren allowed her feet to dangle and swing._

"_I don't suppose you've talked about this to anyone?" the older woman ventured._

"_No," Bo admitted. Disorientated by a simple act of kindness, the single word threatened to choke her._

"_Would it help if you did?" Lauren said. "I'll listen to anything you want to say, Bo. I might be able to help."_

_Bo glanced thoughtfully at the lithe blonde, startled by her urge to let down her customary guard for the gentle-hearted human. Lauren's attraction and sexual desire, so carefully controlled, ebbed in the face of her genuine compassion. _

_The voices of Bo's adoptive parents rang loud and clear in her mind, the dissonant message that all sex was sinful, and all passion was wrong, colliding with her response to the doctor. "I thought I was a demon," Bo shrugged helplessly. Memories of battling her blooming sex drive in the face of stern lectures chilled her._

"_You're not a demon," Lauren answered with confidence. "And I would know, I've met a couple." The doctor met Bo's astonished stare placidly. "There's often a touch of truth in myths. They're usually dark, by nature and by appetite, but they are no more supernatural than you, Bo. And you are nothing at all like them. Cruelty is not in your nature, you wouldn't be here if it was."_

_Bo stared down at her hands as she plucked at her gown. Lauren's words challenged the doubt that had plagued Bo through her years of solitude, tempting the succubus to share the burden of thoughts and deeds that had haunted her fugitive years._

_The beautiful doctor studied her patient carefully. Bo was trying to set her jaw and relight the fire in her eyes, but with limited success. The bravado and hints of swaggering arrogance which Bo had shown the first time that they had met were absent. "Why are you doing this?" Bo demanded, more sharply than she had intended. "I'm still not joining anyone."_

"_I'm not trying to trick you, Bo." Lauren paused and thoughtfully ran the tip of her tongue against her teeth as she measured her words. "I may work for the Light, but I'm a doctor, Bo, and all I ask is that you trust me a little." _

_The brunette's brooding frown deepened and conflict raged within; images of running, hiding and living on her wits conspired to compromise both her willingness and her ability to do as she was asked. "I don't want to get you into trouble," Bo parried._

"_I have some influence. Let me worry about that." Lauren companionably patted Bo's bared knee. "I admit that there is a lot I could learn from you. Perhaps we could learn together, what do you think?"_

"_What will you want to do?" Bo asked warily._

"_I'd like to ask you some more questions, and do some blood work. I know you can cure physical wounds, but I'm curious about how what kind of antibodies your body can produce," Lauren explained._

"_You think I'm not clean," Bo concluded, making no attempt to prevent hostility from surging back into her voice._

_Lauren withdrew from Bo's knee and clasped her practical and neatly manicured hands together on her lap, abashed by her slip of discipline in giving in to the longing to touch skin. The younger woman's choice of words, and the venom with which she delivered them, startled the doctor. _

"_That's not what I had in mind," Lauren answered patiently. "Does that worry you?" The fair-haired woman tilted her eyes to the ceiling to scold herself as Bo's body language was transparent and brimming with unjust guilt at her indiscriminate sexuality. "Your abilities will heal any infections, poisons or pathogens you encounter. I'm going to assume that you've never really been ill?"_

"_I had chicken pox," Bo answered defensively, before deflating, "but I was a kid."_

"_So your powers hadn't manifested?" Questions filled the alert doctor's mind. Lauren's instinct to interrogate and seek truth faded before the succubus' uneasy remembrance. "If it worries you, I can run some blood panels," Lauren said. "And I can arrange for a pelvic examination."_

"_I don't look any different there," Bo snapped bitterly, pressing her hands protectively against her groin._

"_I'm not going to ask you to do anything you're not comfortable with, Bo," Lauren soothed. The Fae woman radiated stress, on edge and ready to run or to fight, and desperately needed empathy and friendship. "If you prefer, we could meet outside the lab after hours. It's your choice, Bo, I just want you to be feel all right. I think you're overdue."_

_Disturbed by burdens of her past, Bo felt her nerves calming in response to Lauren's gentle and considerate treatment. "Thank you," she whispered._


	3. Chapter 3

Kenzi nodded slowly as Bo concluded her tale and felt the sour taste of embarrassment at how little regard she had shown to the doctor. Lauren had broken through Bo's shields, exposed the wounds that the Fae woman felt so keenly, and helped her begin to heal.

Bo's voice faded in embarrassment at the revelation that Lauren's confident assuming of the role of caring friend had moved her. The Russian girl resisted the impulse to reach out to her friend; Kenzi's heart and soul demanded that she offer a supportive hand, while her knowledge offered a reminder that there was no certainty that the volatile succubus would welcome it.

"It's not who I want to be, not with Lauren," Bo admitted. "And while we talked about a lot of things, about being Fae, we didn't talk about this." She gave a rueful and humorless bark of laughter. "I guess I was sending her a message by ignoring it."

Kenzi tugged lightly on Bo's arm. "Want to slide over and I'll drive us back home?"

"I can't, Kenz," Bo objected. "I can't do that to her."

"Then put your brain in neutral and rev up your crotch," Kenzi scolded. "Or everything has gotten all drama queen for nothing, and you're still hungry. So what's it going to be?"

"Easy for you to say," Bo retorted, with steel in her words and frost in her eyes.

Kenzi's impish face, usually so animated and ready to smile, became stern. "You think? It's not easy to watch your BFF suffer a little every day, and not be able to do a damn thing to help her." Kenzi's words were fierce but centered, strict but not unkind. Belying her age and her experience, the unabashed goth girl stood up to Bo and granted her the honesty that she prized above all else. "You know what else? You need to think about how you're treating Lauren."

"I am!" Bo protested. "I don't want to have to let strangers inside me when I could be with her." Bo hung her head and shuddered, adrenalin and the energy of lust pouring through her body. "And I won't want to like it, but I will."

Kenzi took a deep breath and braced herself in anticipation of an outburst. "You don't think she can choose for herself?" The slight woman winced at the brutality of her words, but the crisis emerging within the hungry succubus had made it necessary. "More than anyone else, she knew what she was signing up for. You can't decide for her. It's not right, Bo, and you know it."

Defeated by the accuracy and ruthlessness of Kenzi's argument, Bo rubbed at her forehead to try and ease the serum headache. The paradox of knowing that the more she resisted, the greater the penalty would become, weighed miserably on her shoulders. "What do I do?" Bo pleaded.

"Either we go home and you try with Lauren, or I play wingman at the club and we get it over with," Kenzi shrugged. "Up to you."

A further twinge of stress passed through Bo, hunger pushing the succubus to her limit. "I need more," Bo murmured as she rubbed her temples. "I need more than Lauren could give me now. Even if she would, even if I wanted to, it wouldn't be enough."

Endeavoring to project confidence and a business-like air, Kenzi consulted her phone once more and gave a hum of approval before showing the screen to Bo. "Location looks good. Ready?"

Bo cursed roughly under her breath and hitched her skirt up a few inches before reaching beneath and hooking her thumbs into her thong. Lifting her hips to accommodate, Bo drew her underwear down and ducked the edge of the wheel so that she could reach into the footwell for them. Mind made up, the outcome unavoidable and inevitable, Bo cemented her choice by stripping off the final barrier. The succubus stuffed the thong into the glove compartment and firmly flipped it shut.

"Just try and remember you left those there," Kenzi scolded, wrinkling her nose. "Do you want me to drive?"

"No." Bo restarted the noisy engine. "It's better if I have something to concentrate on."

Accepting Bo's reasoning, Kenzi reclined back in her seat and promised herself that she would step in if the journey began to feel more dangerous. Bo seemed content to drive in brooding silence.

The underground club organizers, styling themselves as rogues and rebels, had chosen an abandoned store to set up for the night. The venue was one of a row of decrepit storefronts, boarded up years before as the neighborhood degenerated and fell into depression. Crumbling and abandoned, it was the perfect location for a radical group needing space and privacy.

Bo and Kenzi approached the address shown in the phone message on foot since the car would serve as a mean to identify them. Although the street lights had been broken years before, leaving the street in gloom, both women were aware of other revelers approaching the broadcasted location. Distrustful and familiar with being on the fringe, none of them acknowledged one another outside the safety of the music and the culture. Avoiding names and faces served the women well.

A large generator was the first proof of life within the trespassed shop. Cables ran from the motor through propped open delivery bay doors and trailed inside. Beneath the steady rumble of the engine was the pounding of the beat.

Without protest, Kenzi paid the door fee for them both, a minor sum that made the risk of arrest and punishment worthwhile to the party organizers. By dawn the equipment would be packed, new chains would be fitted on the doors and no evidence of the improvised club would remain.

The bass inside was powerful enough that Bo was sure that her teeth were rattling in her head. The music was harsh, industrial, with no lyrics or meaning beyond rhythm and sensation. Elaborate lights wired into the sound system responded to the music; flashing and reeling to churn shapes on the walls and cast shadows so that people could lose themselves in the company of their own kind.

Inside the impromptu club the revelers were oblivious to the predator in their midst . Bo and Kenzi took advantage of the camouflage of tightly packed people to split up and scout for a safe and secluded place for Bo to entice her prey.

Relieved by the certainty of an imminent feed to take the edge off her pain, Bo extended her senses to test for interest and desire. A combination of visceral music, bodies in proximity, and the generous welcoming darkness would serve to stimulate base needs.

Bo had witnessed Kenzi's sexual interest spark into life as soon as they had smelled the generator fumes and heard the music. Half-formed and without a target, it was an undeniable response in anticipation of dance. Bo had watched the younger woman on previous hunts. Kenzi was prone to immersing herself in sound; swaying her hips and lifting her arms high, rolling her head back and closing her eyes, movements so fluid and serpentine, indulging in sensuality, but only for herself. Kenzi longed from the club scene and, while she did not say so out loud, Bo could read it from her with ease.

Bo patrolled the dancers, cutting easily through the crows as people unconsciously responded to her nature. Dark and alert eyes, narrowed by the strobing, scanned the space for the first hints of lust targeted at her.

Kenzi returned to Bo's side and tugged on her elbow to get her attention. The small thief reached up and coiled an arm around Bo's neck to pull her close so that she could place her lips at Bo's ear and shout. "There's a door with a _No Entry_ sign on it." Kenzi gestured discretely. "It opens onto a break room for staff. There's a fire exit to the alley beyond."

Bo turned to Kenzi to shout back, a shiver of readiness rushing through her body as her lips briefly passed by Kenzi's mouth. "The generator?"

"Round a corner, and there's a couple of dumpsters and a pile of old wood pallets in the way," Kenzi answered, then shrugged apologetically. "It's not exactly the honeymoon suite though."

Bo shrugged and flashed a brief thumb's up to end the debate and accept the plan. She offered Kenzi a thin-lipped but sincere smile of gratitude for her effort, satisfied by Kenzi's uncanny knack for identifying their needs and making use of resources. Although used to Bo unleashing her passion, Kenzi made a point of moving away to give the succubus the chance to hunt discretely.

The succubus circled the space a second time, releasing her refined senses and searching for desire. She moved smoothly, with innate grace, instinctively showing herself off to potential partners and starting to issue an invitation. The primal beat removed the possibility of conversations and negotiation. Bo noticed every eye that consumed her curves. Bo assessed responses and relied on her experience to determine who would be the most willing to engage in an anonymous tryst.

The crowd of dancers, packed in tightly and moving as a tribe, called out to Bo's body. Allowing her gift to engage and flourish as she hunted gave Bo no choice but to feel acute hunger and the molten flow of chi within. Her nipples hardened painfully, and every step made her sex twitch and urge her to hurry in her quest.

Bo prowled the edge of the crowd, those who were not yet merging with music and bedazzlement. Some of them were there just to listen, to feel less like an outsider. Most were disinterested in anything but the abstract of sound and motion. The Fae woman kept searching until her assessing gaze was returned.

Cool and confident blue eyes met Bo's with frank appraisal. An arrogant lift of the chin signaled to Bo that the woman whom she had focused on recognized and welcomed the lustful offer. The two women sized one another up with a view to stealing an intimate moment together. Bo recognized another hunter seeking a casual assignation.

The human woman's slick white-blonde hair elegantly framed her face and brushed her collar. Her features were fine-boned and severe, with high cheekbones and a sharp chin. Lush pale-glossed lips curled in a sardonic grin. The blonde lazily perused Bo, openly lingering on her plunging cleavage before lifting an eyebrow a fraction as her gaze dipped down to Bo's short hem and smooth bare thighs.

In return, Bo noted the woman's club outfit of skintight black leather jeans, biker boots and a thick belt with a heavy chrome buckle. A figure-hugging black tank top showed lean corded arms, sculpted shoulders and a modest chest. The human was slender but healthy, and Bo's predator senses advised that she was optimum prey with a deep reservoir of chi to be plundered. The blonde's posture was one of dominance, and desire flowed openly and unashamedly from her. She was an ideal target for the hungry and receptive succubus.

Bo caught and held the lanky woman's eyes once more, then signaled that she follow with a cocksure jerk of her head. With each stride towards the chosen exit to the alley Bo's arousal level ramped up a little higher. The succubus' dual biological imperatives, of ravenous hunger and a body asking for sex, became indistinguishable.

A decade on the run - evading capture, making her way in the world - had taught Bo that the best tactic to get into a place she was not supposed to be was to raise her head high and act as if she had every right. Bo strolled into the staff break room as if she owned the place, trusting that her prey was trailing at her heels.

The emergency exit stood ajar. The blonde reached around Bo to courteously push the door wide open, taking care to stand as close as she could. Bo's nostrils flared at the scent of fresh sweat and leather; she shivered in readiness, her ache so fierce it was almost unbearable.

In the alley beyond the illegal club, with the emergency door pulled as closed as they dared without being locked out, the beat was muffled to distant thunder. The alley was damp. High-sided buildings formed tight channel which would see little sun in the daytime. The air was mildly rancid from rotting refuse.

"What's your name?" Bo said, as she picked a patch of wall that did not seem too wet or greasy to lean against.

The answer, in a soft and light voice, was smooth and nonchalant. "Do you care?"

As the human carefully checked that they would have privacy, Bo grasped her skirt's clingy fabric and tugged up to bunch the hem higher, and braced her feet apart to expose herself.

On returning her attention to Bo, the human flashed a buccaneer smile and widened her eyes at the sight of the beautiful brunette's blatant desire.

Bo watched carefully and saw that, beneath her crafted veneer of swaggering arrogance, the human woman's interest wavered in uncertainly in the face of a sexually confident partner. The hint of doubt sent a smirk of amusement to Bo's full lips; all the leather and posturing floundered for a moment as it became clear that although Bo was offering she was still in control. "Do you care why?" Bo taunted, targeting ego with a challenge.

The slender woman surged into Bo, closing the gap between them and pressing her hard against the masonry. Bo tilted her face to the side as the blonde leaned in for a kiss, setting terms and offering her graceful neck instead. The succubus' body shuddered as the eager woman nuzzled and nipped at her pulse point. Bo recognized her own relief that whatever marks were being made would simply be erased and there would be nothing on her body for Lauren to discover.

Knowing kisses, full of finesse and lust, explored Bo's collar, ear and tender throat. The human rested her hands on Bo's hips for a moment to hold her steady before sliding a palm up Bo's flank to cup her breast. The firm squeeze, and impudent rub of a thumb over a stiffened nipple, drew a throaty groan from the brunette, which was echoed by her lover.

Chi energy, the vital tempestuous fabric of life, generated the link that would help her form the best possible connection with her prey. Bo's inner chi reservoir churned, coiling and stirring between her thighs, blazing up through her stomach, into her chest, spreading fiery molten arousal to awaken every nerve and fiber. Body awareness rose to serve her most fundamental need. Sensations from the fabric her own clothing, the warm evening air bathing her, the heat pouring from the blonde woman's body and the smoothness of leather against her bare thighs, conspired to shake loose Bo's cautious control.

Bo draped her left arm around the human woman's neck to hold her in place and prevent her from attempting again to steal intimacy. The succubus guided her prey's hand away from her breast, then brought it between her legs to press firmly against her sex. The blonde murmured excited anticipation against Bo's throat.

"Inside," Bo breathed as the waves of chi rose higher within, preparing to forge the most profound connection. Her back teeth buzzed as if electrically charged. "I need you inside me."

The blonde tilted her head back, curious at the instruction and the urgency behind it, her brow furrowing at the entreaty. Bo held on to the woman's wrist to offer reassurance. Directing the prey to rub and squeeze once more, Bo yielded to her with a sultry smile. "Make me come, lover."

Tilting her hips to improve access, Bo guided the human to slowly ease her middle and ring fingers inside Bo's body. Bo moaned in intense satisfaction at being filled. The blonde answered Bo with murmured praise as slick and snug walls grasped at her fingers.

Bo rested her hands on the prey's shoulders for a long moment, trying to savor the woman's strong, sure, slim fingers twisting and stroking deep inside. The heel of the blonde's hand rubbed at Bo's clitoris and labia, sparking her nerves to life and sending shivers through her.

The blonde woman flexed her arm and shoulder as she pumped into Bo. She murmured a quiet apology as she briefly lost the tempo of her thrusting, a bitter and cold reminder to Bo that her lover was not in tune with her body and never would be. The human leaned in for a kiss at last. Bo slipped her hands from her prey's shoulders to the back of her neck, tightened her grasp and opened her mouth.

Energy called to energy. Bo's innate source, on a high tide of her arousal, offered an anchor point to the bright incandescent flow that burst forth from the prey. The two women arched together as the link was forged, completing the circuit between them and filling Bo's mouth with the longed for nutrition.

Bo's body was wracked by a painful pre-orgasmic shudder, from both the knowing touch and the rich succulent energy. Seconds from climax, Bo battled to resist her longing to let go, lose herself in pleasure and complete the feed with an eruption of lust. Bo's discipline, her will to do no true harm and leave no more dead in her wake, threatened once more to fracture.

The human prey shook helplessly against Bo as her ethereal energy was harvested from her. Her muscles began to fail and she leaned her weight into Bo. As the blonde's eyes began to roll back in her head, her limp fingers were expelled and her arms dropped loosely to her sides.

In defiance of hunger unleashed, Bo dragged her head to the side and made herself close her mouth. Her body screamed its protest, nowhere near sated, and her sex clenched with unfulfilled need. On reflex, Bo caught the human as her knees buckled, then lowered the unconscious woman carefully to the ground.

Licking her lips, although there was no taste to savor, Bo re-adjusted her skirt. The human prey at her feet groaned softly in sympathy with her body as she spasmed though her nerves struggling to process the theft of carnal force. Bo checked the alleyway once more before crouching to roll her victim safely onto her side, taking care that her face rested on the grimy asphalt rather than near one of the many dirty puddles. The succubus pressed her fingers to the woman's neck to affirm to herself that the rapid beat was strong.

"Sorry," Bo muttered and patted the unconscious woman on her leather-clad behind before rising to tug a dumpster a few feet forward, covering the insensible blonde with sodden and torn sheets of cardboard to shield her until she woke.

Bo slipped back into the store and was relieved to find that the staff break room was still deserted. Bo paused to make use of the small sink at the coffee making station, the tap sputtering reluctantly as she moistened some paper hand towels from a dispenser. Bo took a deep breath to stay calm before she swabbed between her legs, wincing and twitching as she mechanically touched herself to avoid tipping over into orgasm by her own hand.

As she cleaned up and prepared herself for the next pursuit, Bo sighed despondently. The level of hunger remaining within her confirmed that Kenzi's suggestion to take three prey would become a necessity. A choice of kindness and safety for her first prey left her no other option than to seek and violate a third person. Coaxing a further dribble of water from the rusty tap to wash her hands and face, Bo gathered her thoughts to repeat her hunt.

"Turn around slowly."

The male voice, clear and stern, brought a soft curse to Bo's lips. Sending a nervous glance to the break room door, with excuses for her presence out of bounds rushing to her mind, Bo's power of persuasion began to tingle in her fingertips.

"This way. Turn," the firm voice ordered. Startled by her error and realizing that she had been caught out and flanked, Bo's gaze snapped to the fire door.

The speaker was as tall as Dyson, but far more solid through his chest, arms and shoulders. A black leather biker jacket, which was zipped up to his thick neck, squeaked and strained over sturdy muscles. His large hands were protected by leather gloves. Clean-shaven, with dark hair that was clipped brutally short, he glared at Bo with mercenary alertness. "Don't come any closer," he warned.

Bo's victim was held in front of him like a shield, a burly arm circled around her midriff. Her head lolled loosely and her eyes fluttered as she fought for consciousness. "Stay awake," he warned as he roughly shook her before putting the blade of a hefty Bowie knife against her skin. "Or I will cut your throat."

Over-powered, delirious and helpless in the arms of her assailant, the blonde opened her eyes wider, then keened in shock as the wicked blade cut her enough to bring forth a smear of blood. The ferocity of his warning, and the sting of the blade, ripped through the fugue that Bo had inflicted on her. Frightened blue eyes met Bo's and pleaded for help.

"What do you want?" Bo asked carefully, taking care to sound as moderate and reasonable as she could.

"Shut up, do as you're told," the brooding man snapped.

Bo's streetwise sensibilities, refined over many years as a fugitive, took careful note of his studious observing of distance between them, his steady hand keeping the knife in contact with the blonde's neck at all times. The awareness and caution sounded an alarm in her mind. "Who sent you?" Bo prompted.

The dazed human woman rapidly blinked as her eyes rolled up in her head and her cognition began to fail once more. The tall man took the strain of her weight, his arm sliding up under her breasts. Another brutal shake snapped her head back to his shoulder and opened a fresh nick. Deeper this time, fat droplets of blood drew a trail down her neck, over her collar, and stained her top.

"Let her go," Bo protested. "She has nothing to do with me. I never met her before, I don't know who she is, so just let her go."

"Last warning, shut your mouth," he snapped. "And you, blondie," he shook her again, "reach your right hand back to my jacket pocket and pull out what you find." His mean and hardened glare met Bo once more as his hunting knife drew another petrified whimper from the ailing woman. "Don't you try me."

"All right, OK, just don't hurt her." Bo bit back her instinct to lash out, although her warrior's edge, on alert and flourishing, screamed at her to fight.

The bleeding woman obeyed the order that she had been given, and hitched a frightened sob as she drew two pairs of gleaming chrome handcuffs from their captor's pocket. The chains and bracelets hissed together as her trembling hands struggled not to fumble them to the floor.

Fixing Bo with a confident and sure glare, the armed man gave another order. "Put your hands behind your back, turn around, take four steps backwards. Try and touch me and I will kill her. I am not negotiating with you, do this quickly and do it now."

The blonde shivered in alarm, begging Bo for help with her eyes and offering apology. Bo lifted her chin, sending the man a fierce and fiery glare, before exposing her back and doing as she had been instructed.

The manacles ratcheted around Bo's wrists. "Tighter," he snapped. "Good. Now, put those around your wrists, blondie, in front will do." With both women shackled he circled away from the emergency exit to clear a path. "Turn back around and look at me."

With her hands firmly bound and already beginning to hurt, Bo turned back to confront him. The thug grasped the human woman by her white hair and jerked backwards to display the long, sweeping lines of her neck and make her completely vulnerable. Fear and bursts of adrenalin were keeping her upright, and if her knees buckled again she risked falling against the weighty blade. Tears and blood streaked her skin.

"You're going to step outside," he declared. "You're going to get in the van. You have no option but to do as I say."

"I'm not arguing," Bo answered smoothly.

Bo pushed the emergency exit door open with her boot and stepped back out into the damp and dirty alleyway. The loud rumble of the generator and the hammering of the music covered the idling engine at the end of the alley. The sliding door on the side of the grimy vehicle ominously stood open.

Keeping her head held high, Bo stepped up into the vehicle and sat down on the ribbed steel floor plan. Bo leaned her back against the bulkhead between the cargo compartment and the cab, taking care to brace her feet so that she would be able to protect and balance herself once the vehicle was in motion. The human was forced to follow, she stumbled from a strong push in the back and desperately stretched out her arms to protect herself. The sliding door was heaved shut to seal them inside.


	4. Chapter 4

Bo released a tense breath and tried to clear the aggression and stress that fogged her savvy survivor's mind. Her vision struggled to adjust to the faint light spilling in through the two dirt-smudged backdoor windows. Sprawled beside her, the human woman began to buckle under the effects of the injury that Bo had inflicted on her.

"Hey," Bo murmured, trusting that the bulkhead and engine noise would mask any conversation. "I'm Bo. What's your name?"

"Jaime." The wounded blonde's front-cuffed hands allowed her to gingerly probe the scratches on her neck. "Did you drug me?"

"No, you passed out." The lie was smooth and easy and the blonde was already confused enough to accept it. With her hands bound behind her back Bo could not reach out to apply arcane persuasion. "You need to stay awake if you can, all right?" Bo closed her eyes and cursed herself for compromising the woman and making her a victim. "Listen to me, if you get a chance to run, any kind of chance, you should run." Bo insisted. "Don't look back, just run."

"He's going to kill us," Jaime whimpered, gasping for breath as if she might cry. "He's going to hurt us and he's going to kills us."

"No, he's not," Bo responded confidently. "But you have to agree that you'll run if you can." Bo tugged at her cuffs. "I need you to help me now though." Bo twisted her upper body to display her back. "Grab the chain between the cuffs and hold on tight."

"What are you doing?" Jaime asked. Her words slurred as she fought the soporific fallout of the draining.

"I'm going to pull out of the cuffs," Bo said. "If I pull against myself I'll hurt both my hands. If you can help me and support me, I'll be able to get one free."

"He made me put them on you so tight," Jaime said.

"It's OK, I can do it," Bo assured. "Hurry, we don't know how long this trip is going to last."

The vehicle made a hard turn and slammed Jaime's body into Bo, spilling them flat in a tangle of limbs. Desperately aware of minutes ticking past, as the journey took her further from Kenzi, Bo levered herself up and watched Jaime trying to cope with her weakness and disorientation before offering her back again.

"Like this?" Jaime asked nervously as she clasped the cuff chain.

Bo tugged experimentally and jerked free of her anchor at once. "Harder," she prompted. "You need to hang on as tight as you can if I'm going to get loose." Bo wanted to snap at Jaime, to make her do as she was told, but had to accept that the blame was on her own shoulders as she had orchestrated their plight.

"But your hand," the blonde protested.

"Let me worry about it," Bo said. "It's going to hurt, I'm OK with that. I just need you to anchor me." The two women struggled with another turn. "You've got to hurry."

Bo waited for Jaime to arrange herself and pin them together so that Bo had something to pull against. The succubus took a deep breath to ready herself for the pain that was to come, because dragging herself free from the manacle could only break bones. Being injured in a fight was something that Bo was familiar with, but wounding herself on purpose would be harder.

Bo's reserves of chi were already ebbing, she knew that taking more damage was a dangerous gambit. With control already hanging by the barest of threads, having Jaime pressed so close was a temptation that Bo could hardly stand.

The first strong yank gouged the manacle into Bo's wrist and drew a yelped curse from her, although it was nowhere near hard enough to rip free. Steeling herself, Bo heaved again and choked a cry of agony as bones and tendons were buckled, her skin threatened to tear and the wrist joint began to separate.

Abruptly, Bo lurched into the side of the van, and then rapped her chin and cheek hard against metal as the grip on her cuff was released.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I can't," Jaime babbled. "Your hand is broken. You're bleeding and it's crushed and I can't, I'm sorry." The hurt woman, distraught and confused, began to panic.

Bo had assumed that what she felt pooling in her palm was perspiration. She twisted her wrist within the manacle and tested to see if her own blood would serve as a lubricant to let her wrestle free. "Don't freak out," Bo scolded. "I'm OK and I can get us out of this if I can just get a hand free. You have to help me."

The van rumbled to a halt, braking hard enough to tumble the two trapped women into one another. The lean blonde was still solid enough to jolt the breath from Bo's body as they were tangled together. The engine idled for a moment, drowned out by a loud metallic shriek of rusted hinges outside the vehicle. Muted voices, not loud enough to understood, sent a clear signal that their captor had an accomplice.

Once the vehicle began to roll forward again Bo tugged frantically on her cuffs, gritting her teeth against the stabbing pain that rushed up both arms as her body howled in protest. "Just remember," Bo hissed, "run if you can."

The driver's door slammed shut, followed by the sound of footfalls on concrete. The harsh drumming of a fist on the sliding panel made both women jump. "Blondie, get on your feet and get your back against this door. Do it now." The stern drumming was repeated. "Look at the window, both of you."

The two women sent alarmed glances to the grimy glass at the rear of the van and saw a new face staring in at them. The man at the glass was older than their abductor. Deep lines at the corners of his eyes and either side of his mouth carved his features into an aggressive glower. His iron grey and receding hair was cut in the same austere style. Alert eyes tracked the captive women, then hardened in a frown at Bo's attempt to pull free. They watched his lips move as he passed information to the knifeman.

A fresh wave of pounding, angrier than before, drew an anxious keen from Jaime. "You will do as I say," the armed man demanded. "You will do it now or we will light this van on fire and you'll die here." To reinforce the threat, the second man raised a gas can to the window for them to see.

"They're killing us," Jaime whimpered. Desperately aware of how much danger they were both in she gave a soft sob. "They're going to hurt us and then they'll kill us."

Bo relaxed her arms and winced as the edge of the cuffs loosened from the gouges in her skin, exposing raw wounds. "Go on," the succubus urged. "Whatever it takes, OK?" The idea of the vehicle being set on fire with them trapped inside made Bo's belly squirm. "First step is to get out of this van or we have no chance. So do as he says, keep your eyes open and if you have the chance to get away, take it."

Jaime rose reluctantly and presented her back to the door, visibly trembling before Bo's eyes. Streaks of blood from the knife scratches mingled with grunge from the floor of the van. Her head dropped towards her chest, condemned.

The door was vigorously jerked open, squealing on its runners and crashing to a halt. The kidnapper's powerful left arm grabbed Jaime roughly around the waist and hauled her backwards. The tall man's bodyweight, standing square and strong, was the only thing that stopped Jaime from falling flat on her back. The heavy hunting knife flashed back to her neck, forcing Jaime to struggle to get her feet back under herself before she was cut again.

Understanding the man's intent, Bo did not wait for the order. The brunette rose smoothly and stepped out of the van with exaggerated caution. Bo knew that she could not save herself if she was to fall, but her careful descent was orchestrated for her skirt to ride up a few inches and display a lot of leg. Bo monitored the brawny man for potential sexual interest and received a disgusted sneer in answer to her test.

"Follow," he ordered, confident of her compliance.

As soon as the trio had cleared the van, the older man circled behind them and placed himself deliberately outside Bo's line of sight to increase the threat against her. As he advised his cohort that Bo was still safely shackled, the senior man's gravelly voice indicated that he was out of range for even her superior reflexes.

Bo hurriedly stole glances around herself when the entourage moved around the van at the orders of the knife-wielding man. The succubus realized at once that they were inside a vast warehouse. The ceiling of the space was so high that it was not even visible in the gloom. Three of the four walls were in just as much shadow, despite illumination from the van headlights. The warehouse was decrepit and filthy, redolent with the acrid chemical aroma of one of the city's river tributaries.

Bo knew that much of the waterfront district was abandoned and rotting into the water, and was often a haunt for the criminal brotherhood that Bo's work occasionally bought her into contact with. Streetwise and familiar with darkness, Bo recognized that the place had been chosen so that the screams of women, if heard, would be ignored.

Jaime's terrified cry dragged Bo's concentration from her rapid assessment of the space to focus on the human woman's shocked face, before turning to see what had provoked her distress.

The van headlights cast dramatic shadows through a free-standing improvised prison cell. Four walls and a roof of sturdy iron bars were bolted together to form a cube that measured ten feet on each side. Concrete dust powdered the space from drill holes that had been sunk into the ground to anchor the cage in place, although the metal alone weighed more than Bo's strength could handle. The door on the nearest cell wall was secured by a lever which operated deadbolts at the top and bottom. A hefty padlock hung at the ready to secure the lever. The cell was furnished with a single metal bunk, a rough grey blanket folded at the foot of the sparse mattress, and a lidded bucket.

"No," Bo protested at once, every instinct within her screaming in revolt at the prospect of imprisonment. "I won't."

The younger of the two men jerked Jaime to a halt. With deadly efficiency he drove the shaking woman down to one knee before catching her hair and forcing her head to crane backwards as if preparing her for sacrifice. Jaime struggled for balance as the wicked blade kissed her skin again.

"Get in there," the thug ordered, "or I'm going to take her head." His tug on Jaime's hair made her yelp. "Get in the cell. Do it now, no negotiation." To punctuate his point, another bright trickle of blood beaded and seeped down Jaime's throat to stain her neckline.

"All right, OK, just don't," Bo pleaded. The succubus' alert mind tested her options and found them wanting, her street fighting senses warning her that the older man would be armed too, and he was just as judicious in maintaining distance. Bo's survivor sensibilities counseled her that she had no moves left other than whatever it took to stay alive. "I'll do it, I'll do what you want."

Bo listened to the gate slamming shut behind her. The older man secured the bolts and gave a single sour bark of laughter that was humorless and mean. "Gotcha," he gloated.

Jaime knelt helplessly before the knife-wielding man. Bo's jailer joined his partner, both men allowed themselves to relax and exchange amused glances over Jaime's head, trusting that she was was rendered catatonic from fear.

"Let her go," Bo called through the bars. "You've got me, you don't have to hurt her." The succubus' sharp eyes noticed that Jaime's cuffed hands had come to rest by her boot and she was carefully inching up the cuff of her leather jeans. Hoping that Jaime had an idea, perhaps even a concealed weapon, Bo stepped up her argument. "You've got me. You don't need her, she doesn't know anything."

The words, as soon as she had spoken them, chilled Bo to the core as she recognized that she was condemning Jaime. Between them, the two men hauled Jaime back up to her feet. "So, what do we do with her?" The younger of the two asked.

"No, please don't," Bo implored.

Jaime's collar was bibbed in sweat and bloody smudges, her hands clenched together. The fearful trembling had stopped, letting the captors think that she was resigned to her fate. Sky blue eyes caught Bo's panicked gaze and glittered for a fraction of a second. The corner of Jaime's mouth lifted in a small and discrete smirk of her own. Bo returned the look with a subtle nod, willing Jaime to make her move and trying to contain her fear that it was Jaime's last chance.

Jaime directed Bo's focus down to her shackled hands and uncurled her fist as Bo watched. Jaime's slender fingers moved with such grace that she looked as if she was performing a magic trick, revealing a silver key in the palm of her hand with a sleight of hand flourish.

With a wide and fiendish grin twisting her sharp features, Jaime unlocked her handcuffs and let them clatter to the concrete. She rubbed her wrists to relax them, then dabbed light fingertips to the scratches on her neck before raising a quizzical eyebrow at the armed man. "Really?" She asked.

"Had to make it look real, boss," he answered easily. "Do you need another shot?"

Jaime waved off the suggestion, although weariness was still evidently weighing on her. The rangy human took a rag from the elder male, then swabbed her neck and chin. With a contemptuous flick of her wrist, Jaime tossed the key into the impromptu cell. "Take them off and throw them out here," she ordered.

"You tricked me?" Bo demanded.

Allowing herself a soft laugh at Bo's outrage and confusion, Jaime retorted with confidence. "We had an idea of how dangerous you are, so we had to be sure."

Bo released the cuffs and cradled her wounded wrist against her body. "What do you want?" she asked.

"The truth," Jaime said. "And you will tell us." She accepted a black leather jacket from her colleague and zipped it to her chin to hide the blood, then pulled on a pair of leather gloves. "But right now, I think we need a little more leverage." She chuckled at Bo's wary glare. "The gear? We know better than to risk letting you touch us."

"Who sent you?" Bo demanded, grasping the bars with her uninjured hand.

Jaime ignored the increasingly frantic succubus, turning to her team to issue her orders. "Go and get that girl, I think she's human but you should be careful. Let me know when she's in custody. I'm not sure about the other one," Jaime glanced to Bo and matched her fiery glare with a triumphant and mocking smile. "I don't suppose you want to tell us?"

"Don't touch them," Bo hissed, baring her teeth despite her impotence. The succubus tugged hard on the iron bars, as if she could bend them through sheer force of will. "Don't you dare touch either of them."

The trapped succubus' entreaty was met with a new fury that was bright, sharp and more intense than before. Raw hatred that was visceral and barely restrained, seething with venom and fire, shone murderously from Jaime's eyes. "You've learned your first lesson, beast," Jaime sneered. "And this is your second. If they die tonight, their blood will be on your hands. You should be used to that now, but this time you will care."


	5. Chapter 5

Barefoot and breathless from being jolted from a restless and uneasy sleep, the golden-haired doctor knotted the belt of her robe as she hurried down the stairs and made her way to the front door. Another burst of insistent knocks, sharp and unapologetic, jarred her still waking nerves.

The uncertainty of being without an Ash had prompted Lauren to increase her security, and the late hour and demanding behavior of her visitor made her uneasy enough to be relieved at the choice. Lauren swept her loose tumbling hair from her brow and stepped up to the door to peer through the spy hole.

Initially ruling out a casual midnight caller Lauren frowned at the woman standing beyond her threshold and urged her still sleepy mind to put a name to the face.

The slender woman's slick white-blonde hair was a stark contrast to the black leather that she wore zipped up to her neck. Crystal blue eyes stared curiously at the spy hole and her head was canted to the side like an attentive bird as she listened for an answer to her knocking.

Lauren recoiled from the door, jerking her palms away from the smooth woodwork as if it was hot, as the stranger gave another determined knock and demand. "Open the door."

Startled that the woman spoke with such confident assurance, Lauren hesitantly looked again. The stranger took a step back and raised her phone to the tiny lens. The image on the screen sent a frosted chill to the nervous doctor's skin, making her flesh crawl and her stomach churn.

The small screen showed an image of Kenzi, captured with a cry of pain twisting her delicate features. The young woman's eye makeup had streaked to bruises around her eyes, a smudge of blood added a stark dash of color between her nose and top lip. A large masculine hand was grasping Kenzi's hair and forcing her tip her head back and expose the elegant sweep of her throat to the knife blade that was held against her milky skin. Fright and shock opened the goth girl's pale eyes wide as she was forced to pose for the picture.

"Open the door," the leather-clad woman ordered. "And ask yourself if you can call for help faster than I can call to have her killed."

Nervously brushing at the loose collar and belt of her robe, desperately aware of her vulnerability, Lauren reluctantly obeyed the stark instruction.

The blonde woman, imposing and malevolent in her black biker gear, strolled across the threshold as if she had all the time in the world and every right. She closed the door quietly behind her, making a show of complete confidence and command of the moment, forcing Lauren to helplessly stand and watch.

The intruder paced a slow, insolent circle around the doctor, taking note of the sleep-tousled hair and sleepy eyes that were widening with distress. "Listen to me carefully, you will only receive information and instructions once. Is that clear?" The woman's voice was precise and smooth, but carried an icy thread of cultured anger.

"Who are you?" Lauren answered.

Anger flashed into life in the invader's eyes, her control fragile and ready to shatter. One gloved hand clenched into a fist as the urge to lash out seethed from the woman's angular features. "You will listen to me and do as I say, is that clear?" This time the question was hissed through bared teeth.

Lauren's confusion faded, quenched by the sight of barely contained fury, and was replaced by awareness of desperate danger. Marshaling her will and composure, Lauren submitted. "Yes, I understand."

The black-clad woman showed Lauren her phone once more. The image of Kenzi had been cleared, the custom display showed a number and a green call button that the woman rested her thumb over. "If you try to fight me, I let go and the phone will dial out. If you can kill me, I let go and the phone dials. This phone is a dead man's switch and your friend's life depends on me not letting go."

Lauren spared a doubtful glance to the device and weighed the risk of disobedience. The burden resonated clearly in her mind. "I understand."

"Good." Jaime allowed her hand to come to rest loosely at her side, earning a soft sound of alarm at her cavalier attitude to the peril that she had created. "Now that I have your attention, you will answer my first question." Jaime fixed her fierce glare on Lauren. "What are you?"

Blinking rapidly and recoiling, Lauren caught her breath to balance herself before she could speak. "I'm a doctor, a medical doctor." The response provoked another blaze of outrage and anger, so bright and sharp that Lauren felt the fine dusting of fair hair on her arms prickle.

"I mean, are you human?" The softly-spoken woman delivered the question with such a matter-of-fact calm that Lauren opened her mouth to speak, but found her mouth dry and her words silenced. "You don't seem surprised by the question, and you're not dismissing it as absurd, why is that, doctor?" The last word was weighted with mockery and malice. "Why would I doubt if you were human?"

Lauren's quick mind provided the only possible conclusion. "You know about Bo."

"Bo is my prisoner," Jaime smirked, "and now so are you. You are coming with me."

Stomach squirming with apprehension, Lauren glanced down at herself. "May I get dressed?"

Jaime's harsh eyes narrowed as she returned to the cusp of what Lauren anxiously suspected would be an aggressive and enraged outburst. The battle for control, to contain her hatred twisted the blonde biker's features as she drifted closer to the breaking point which would doom Kenzi.

"I am human." Trusting her insight and intuition, Lauren carefully moderated her voice to sound relaxed and patient. "And I'm not going to resist you. Please, I would like to get dressed."

Lauren's acceptance of her own abduction, her yielding to whatever was to come, and the absence of fear in her steady gaze confounded her belligerent captor. Jaime gave a single nod of agreement.

The doctor hesitated for a moment, preparing for another blast of temper to blindside her, before turning to the stairs to go back to her bedroom. Conscious of her exposure, Lauren took care not to make any sudden moves that might prompt retaliation.

The solid tread of motorcycle boots trailed her every step of the way. Jaime made a point of leaning in the bedroom doorway, and dared Lauren to ask for privacy with a fresh scowl as the doctor selected some garments and risked cautious glances to her observer.

"I should just drag you out of here naked," Jaime sneered. "Show you how collaborators should be treated." Contempt and venom shadowed her face. "Maybe I will. Maybe we will shave your hair, doctor." The title was spat out as a curse. "And then everyone will know what you have done. I should make you strip."

Lauren reached deep within her personal reserves of strength. Relying on her training and her experiences with volatile and dangerous people, both human and Fae, Lauren faced the fury with serenity. "I've lived and worked in close and rough conditions, you can't make me feel degraded this way. Please, just let me."

Jaime searched Lauren's face for dishonesty and found none. "Quickly."

Keenly aware that the mercurial woman would mull over how she had been resisted, then cycle though her rage and calm once more, Lauren quickly stepped into her bikinis and hitched them up under her robe. An old pair of worn-soft jeans followed, and then the sneakers that she wore to pound the pavement and run off her stress. Knowing that turning her back would compromise her own statement, Lauren shrugged off her robe.

"What do you want?" Lauren asked, seeking to widen the gap between the woman's fluctuating moods.

The fleeting inspection Jaime spared her bared body was disinterested and cursory. "Justice," Jaime shrugged, "nothing more. And you're going to help me. Hurry up."

Lauren tugged on a plain cami top and then covered it with a long-sleeved shirt that she hastily buttoned. "I'm ready."

Jaime pulled a keychain from the pocket of her leather pants and tossed it to the doctor. "You're driving. Don't you do anything to make me drop my phone."

Lauren studied the key nestled in her palm. "Please, you mustn't do this." The quiet but firm certainty of the doctor's statement, the absolute belief in herself and the truth of her words, let her stand her ground before Jaime's fire. "You don't know what you're doing."

"You're warning me?" Jaime growled. "With the girl's life hanging by a thread, you're actually warning me?"

"Let us go, just let all of us go." Appealing to reason in the face of an inflammatory temperament was borne of desperation, and took every ounce of Lauren's nerve. "Let us go and this can end. You don't know what you're doing."

"You're going to drive," Jaime retorted sharply, "and you're going to explain it all to me tonight. In fact, you're going to tell me how to kill them."

Lauren bit back a dismayed groan and swallowed the sourness rising in her throat. "You've hurt Bo?"

"Bo?" Jaime echoed. "No, you don't understand. This isn't just about Bo. I want to know everything, because I'm going to find them and kill them all."


	6. Chapter 6

At her kidnapper's sullen instruction, Lauren pulled to a halt beside a battered and rusty plain white van which had been parked at the door of a decrepit hangar-sized warehouse. Her captor had given directions, but otherwise remained a silent observer to their journey, the phone conscientiously placed in sight as if Lauren could forget the menace hanging over her.

A pervasive queasy chill spread through Lauren's body, sinking into every nerve and sinew, so that the hand which reached for the column shift trembled. As soon as the car was in neutral, the malevolent biker reached past Lauren to take the ignition key and return it to her pocket.

The fury that Lauren had witnessed at her home had been returned to its shackles, replaced with the pragmatism of a plan in place and unfolding as expected. "Out," Jaime ordered sharply.

Familiar with predators, Lauren kept her eyes averted to avoid chancing another eruption. Without experience or status, or the protection of a patron, Lauren knew that her options in the face of aggression were limited. Even without Kenzi's life as the ante, the gamble of a direct confrontation was not in her favor. Lauren's sensibilities as prey were on full alert and, knowing that submission was the best option, she obeyed without protest.

The decrepit van's side-door slid open at once and a powerfully built man dragged Kenzi out by the arm, jerking her hard enough to force a yelp of pain from her. The goth girl glared defiantly at her captor despite the iron grip around her thin arm or the smear of blood that streaked across her pale cheek.

Unable to do anything but watch the slender younger woman being first shaken roughly as a warning, and then receive a cursory cuff to the side of her head, which prompted a further pugnacious glare from Kenzi, Lauren glanced hopefully to her kidnapper. "Is this necessary?" Lauren asked, cautiously taking care to not sound combative.

Jaime curled her lip in an insincere smile that did not reach her cold and hostile eyes, and released the call button on her phone.

The ringtone was shrill and strident in the otherwise still night. The tall man spared only a single glance to his colleague as an acknowledgment rather than asking for permission. Bigger and stronger than Kenzi, he forced her to rise up on her toes to relieve the pain of his vicious grip and lose any leverage to pull away from him. Secure in his control of his prisoner, he reached around beneath his jacket and drew out a pistol.

Her heart racing, Lauren lunged forward a pace, as if she could hope to reach them in time to stop them. "No, don't," Lauren exclaimed. The frightened woman turned to her captor in recognition of her authority. "Please, don't."

Chuckling bitterly at the distress carving anxious lines into her prisoner's features, the kidnapper called out to her cohort. "Hold on."

"Are you sure, Jaime?" The heavyset man gave Kenzi another brutal shake. "There's nothing I'd rather do than shut her mouth."

Willing Kenzi to stay quiet, Lauren searched for eye contact with the young woman so that she could offer her a warning. They were both prisoners, and the only thing Kenzi had to show for her resistance was bruises. The presence of a gun sent a fresh coil of fear squirming deep within the doctor's belly. Tradition and their own biology led the Fae to favor edged blades, disdaining modern human weaponry for the forms and rituals of their past.

"Doctor? What's her name?" Jaime prompted. Contempt sounded clearly in her tone, her words garnered both surprise and anger from the tall man.

"Kenzi," Lauren provided.

"Calm her down, or I'll let him do it."

Drying sweat-slick her hands on her shirt, Lauren made herself look away from the weapon and focus on the younger woman instead. "Kenzi?" The sound of her own voice snapped the thief from her ineffective attempts to pull free and diverted her attention to Lauren. "This isn't a fight we can win," Lauren cautioned. Although Kenzi's eyes flared in outrage at the suggestion of surrender, Lauren saw that she was concealing a shadow of fear for them both. "Right now we have to do as they say, OK?" The doctor nodded slowly as she spoke in a desperate attempt to encourage Kenzi to stop struggling.

"Let her go," Jaime ordered her partner, and smirked her amusement as Kenzi rubbed her sore arm and glared mutinously at the tall man. "You will follow our instructions because you both know that we have both the will and the means to make you."

Under Jaime's instructions, and desperately aware of the gun, Lauren moved to stand beside Kenzi. The armed man opened the driver's door of the van, he pulled out a second firearm from beneath the seats, a snub-nosed automatic weapon that he slung up onto his shoulder by its strap. The pistol remained in his hand as a reminder of the threat to the two women and was used to gesture them both to walk.

Shoulder to shoulder, with the gunman covering them, Lauren and Kenzi followed Jaime around the side of the building to a small staff access door. Waiting for Jaime to unlock and shove the rusty door open, Lauren thought that she felt the slightest brush of fingers against the side of her hand. Not sure if Kenzi was offering a moment of support, or seeking it, Lauren inclined her head a touch in recognition before Jaime ordered them both inside.

The cavernous warehouse interior was illuminated by portable battery-powered floodlights, which cast bright pools on the rough concrete floor and shone a yellow nimbus on listlessly drifting dust motes. A pair of steel chairs, facing one another, had been set by one lamp. The other lights shone on a freestanding steel cage, and the prisoner within.

The sight of Bo behind bars sent Lauren's hand to her mouth to hold in a gasp of agony. In the harsh electronic light, Bo's features seemed sharper and harsher than usual. The narrowing of her eyes and the pinching in her cheeks betrayed her hunger. Bo gripped a bar with one hand, the other was held protectively against her midsection and looked as if it was gloved in blood.

Jaime's order was clear and calmly stated. "We'll start with the girlfriend, put the other one in the cage."

A rough shove between the shoulders almost spilled Lauren to her knees, the push was so sudden and unexpected that she struggled to keep her feet. A second unforgiving jolt which propelled her towards the cage followed.

Confused by the aggression, Lauren chanced a look back over her shoulder and saw a man with iron-grey hair and a deeply lined faced dragging Kenzi towards the two chairs. The younger woman's face was pale and strained, her eyes focused on the weapon that the second man had taken from his cohort.

"No, wait," Lauren protested. "You've got this the wrong way round."

The gunman used his grip on Lauren's shoulder to force her to turn and face him, the muzzle of his pistol aimed point blank at her forehead. He glowered sternly at her. "Liar," he snarled. "We watched them, we know they live together."

The doctor caught a fleeting glimpse of Kenzi's startled gaze, but was not sure if she saw relief or censure for her intervention. Summoning her serenity, Lauren met the gunman's eyes with self-assurance and lifted her chin confidently. "Kenzi isn't Bo's lover, I am."

Unsettled, frustrated by the appearance of bad intelligence on their targets, both men looked to Jaime for instructions. In turn, their leader confronted Bo. "Well? Which of these two keeps your bed warm, beast?" Jaime pressed. "Or is it both? Do you like attractive blondes?" She curled her lip in a provocative scornful grin. "Or do you like them young?"

Too drained to rise to the accusation, or correct the slur, Bo resisted the urge to lean against the bars and rest. As her body sounded warning messages of pain and hunger, which made her head spin, Bo gestured to the doctor with her uninjured hand.

"Is that to protect her because she has a gun in her face?" Jaime challenged. "Don't look at her, look at me."

Cornered by her answer, Bo stood up straighter to confront her jailer. Playing the hand that Lauren had dealt for her she answered plainly. "Lauren and I are lovers. You've got leverage, so you don't need them both. Let Kenzi go."

"I don't think so," Jaime snapped. "Cage the girl. The doctor and I will sit down and have a conversation. If either one of them tries to resist, persuade them."

The two men hurried to complete their orders. A weapon aimed at the back of Kenzi's head, and a growled command that Bo must step away from the cell door, allowed the older man to release the bolts and push Kenzi into the enclosure. Ignoring the bruising jab of a pistol barrel into her lower back, Lauren walked to the plain metal chairs without any protest.

Jaime sat down opposite Lauren, studied her prisoner thoughtfully for a moment, and ran her tongue along the edge of her teeth with relish before she spoke again. "I have a lot of questions for you, doctor, but there is one thing I have to know first," Jaime began. "What did she do to me?"

Lauren primly rested her hands on her lap, her fingers entwined, so that she would not fidget beneath the intense scrutiny. Against her will, knowing that she was handing Jaime an advantage, Lauren felt her cheeks begin to color.

"You didn't realize?" Jaime's laughter was loaded with mockery. "It didn't cross your mind? I fucked her, Lauren, I was the last person inside her." Crystal blue eyes glittered in malice as her voice dropped to a sensual purr. "And she was so warm and wet and tight for me. She begged me, doctor, she begged me to fuck her and she was so good."

Lauren took a deep breath to steady her nerve and fortify herself. "If you're trying to shock me this way, you'll fail." Lauren spoke softly and clearly. "I know that she has sex with other people." The doctor composed herself quickly to stop a smile of satisfaction spreading, as the wind left Jaime's sails and cruelty was replaced with confusion. "Bo can fuck anyone she likes, it's not just about sex."

Jaime narrowed her eyes and rallied her hostility. "Are you actually saying that you care about this creature?" she sneered derisively. "Or are you its pet?"

Lauren's eyes widened as she recognized that her words were making her vulnerable, and that Jaime was so intent on her own narrative that she would not listen to any protests that Lauren might make. The very concept of a relationship with Bo had driven Jaime back to her boiling point, bringing venom to her tone and barely contained rage to her gaze.

Lauren steeled herself to not blink and not back down. "I don't understand what you think you can gain from this."

"I know how dangerous your lover is. So, since we can't ask her, we will ask you." The fire of hatred sparked back into life within Jaime. "If necessary we will make you tell us." She watched her threat tease a nervous frown from her prisoner. "My questions are simple enough; what is she, where did she come from, how many more are there, and where can I find them?"

Swallowing painfully, her mouth dry and sour, Lauren forced herself to sustain eye contact in the face of fury, and shook her head.

"Not going to answer? You don't understand, doctor, you're going to get hurt if you don't co-operate," Jaime warned.

"You're going to hurt me anyway," Lauren countered steadily.

Jaime paused to study her fingernails, smirking to herself as she waited for an uneasy squirm from the doctor that did not come. "You have some choices," Jaime continued. "This doesn't have to get any uglier, doctor." Jaime leaned forward, rested her elbows on her knees, and tilted her chin to the thickset man standing guard at their side. "The thing is, I won't be the one who hurts you."

Lauren's skin crawled as the solid man broke his granite facade and indulged in a lazy perusal of her body. His big, meaty hand, large enough to choke her, coiled into a fist. Lauren found herself wishing that she had buttoned her shirt up to the collar.

"You're thinking I'm monstrous?" Jaime taunted. "Don't you think that's rather ironic given our current situation? Given her kind?"

Lauren craned around to look at the iron cage, and then at Bo leaning against Kenzi's shoulder, as insight struck her. "You're aware of the Fae because you've done this before."

"The Fae? Is that what they're called?" Jaime challenged. The burly armed guard took pains to step into Lauren's eye line, breaking the connection between the lovers and compelling her to reluctantly return her attention to Jaime. "I already know they exist, so you can answer my other questions. What are they, doctor? Where did they come from?"

"They didn't come from anywhere," Lauren replied. "They evolved."

"That's impossible," Jaime retorted sharply.

"And yet Bo is right in front of you," Lauren reasoned. "What did you want me to say?"

"I want the truth, and I will get it." Jaime's frosted glare did not waver. "You know, the last time we questioned one of them we used some shears and cut a couple of fingers off to try to make him talk." Jaime huffed a breath of bitter amusement. "They grew back right in front of us. So you'll understand why I find evolution hard to believe."

Lauren felt the color drain from her face, her skin tightening as if she had been drenched in ice water. "What have you done?"

"Exactly what was necessary. And I will do it again and again until I get the answers I require. But you can stop this right here and right now by telling me what I need to know." Jaime curled her lip in a cruel smirk. "That creature? He died awfully hard, doctor."

"You killed him." Lauren's mind raced as she tried to think of Fae species with rapid regeneration, but found that she was unable to tear her eyes away from her captor long enough to concentrate on the puzzle.

"He wouldn't tell me," Jaime shrugged, relishing the distress on her prisoner's face.

"You don't know what you've done bringing us here," Lauren sighed as her shoulders fell.

"The three of you are that important?"

"No, not at all," Lauren said, her eyes made wide and earnest by her urge to spread understanding, "but protecting the secret is. They place themselves in positions of power and influence, and they control knowledge of their existence. They have done this for millennia. The Fae are out there, Jaime, and you don't know how much danger you are in."

"This is the second time you've warned me." Jaime narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

"Because you're forcing your way into a world that you cannot possibly understand." Buckling under the prurient stare of the gun-toting thug, feeling chilled within, Lauren tightly folded her arms over her breasts.

"Oh, I understand enough," Jaime snapped. "I understand that these are the opening salvoes of a war."

"Jaime, there won't be a war." Lauren's correction was offered with measured patience, although the nape of her neck was prickling in alarm and stress threatened leave her in tears. "The Fae will always protect their own. They'll come for you and they'll make you disappear. The only chance you have is to let us go and run. Run as fast and as far as you can."

Jaime scowled at the unabashed certainty in the doctor's warning. "I'm not letting you go. You still don't seem to understand how serious we are, so I'm going to give you an ultimatum. We don't need you both, either one of you gives me an advantage."

"Please," Lauren whispered, "don't do this."

"I'm going to let the three of you talk about co-operating and telling me everything I need to know. If you decide to resist then, lover or friend, one of you will die." Jaime gave Lauren an insincere and vicious smile that was loaded with triumphant malice. "I'll even let you choose which one." Her attention shifted to the guard behind Lauren. "Lock her up."


	7. Chapter 7

With the sound of the steel gate slamming shut still ringing in her ears, Lauren reached out to pull Bo into a firm and desperate embrace. She pressed her face into Bo's neck, breathing in the comforting scent of Bo's skin and hair, as the succubus held her tightly in return.

In addition to the fresh aroma of soap, the richness of leather and the natural spiciness that was just Bo, Lauren realized that she could smell blood. Remembering how she had been cradling her hand, Lauren released Bo from her arms. "You're hurt?" Lauren asked. "Show me."

The doctor's touch was careful and kind as she inspected the damage, wincing in sympathy as she manipulated the delicate bones in Bo's hand. "What happened?"

"Tried to break out of some cuffs," Bo shrugged. "It's not so bad."

Lauren raised her eyebrows doubtfully, but allowed Bo to withdraw her hand. Turning her attention to Kenzi, Lauren cupped the younger woman's face gently and tilted it to the sparse light. "Your nose looks all right, I don't think it's broken, but you're going to have a shiner," the doctor explained.

"Won't be the first time." Kenzi's blithe answer concealed a secret shadow that she hurried to cover. "Does anyone have a plan? Or do we just going to go ahead, break the habit of a lifetime, and fake it?"

Rolling her eyes at the wisecrack, Lauren frowned out at the darkness. "They know enough about Bo to not let her close enough to touch them."

"They made it pretty clear they've been watching us," Kenzi provided.

"And they laid a trap for me," Bo admitted, in exasperation. "They must have followed us to the club, maybe they wanted to see what I was for themselves, before making a move. And I was too busy getting laid to see an ambush coming a mile away."

"I didn't know you picked up the babes on these trips," Kenzi interrupted. The thief closed her eyes tightly, muttering a curse under her breath, as her words registered.

"I usually don't," Bo sighed. "It's quicker to find guys who'll step into a dark and dirty alley to fuck me. I should have known something was wrong, it was too easy." The succubus took a moment to gather herself and lift her chin. "Lauren, I'm sorry."

The gentle-hearted blonde saw fear and the anticipation of rejection, which had haunted Bo for so long, creeping insidiously into Bo's features and posture. "What for?" Lauren reasoned calmly. "It was just sex, Bo. It was just something to feed your hunger. And if it's only food then the gender just doesn't matter. That isn't what concerns me."

"What does?" Kenzi prompted.

Lauren nodded her appreciation at the slight girl, aware that Kenzi was effortlessly stepping in to cover the succubus' pause and carry the conversation. "I'm concerned that Jaime is actually insane."

"Being an aggressive asshole doesn't make her a nutbar," Kenzi argued. "I mean, one way or another we've all known some violent jerks, that didn't make them crazy."

"She's in control, but only just," Lauren worried. "It doesn't take much to tip her into rage, and I saw that it was harder each time for her to come back from it."

"We can use it," Bo decided. "Jaime is arrogant and she bluffs, you can't trust anything she says." Bo pointed to the vacant chairs outside the cage. "That whole speech she gave you? You have no idea if any of that was the truth. Do you really believe she's been getting away with hunting and killing Fae?"

"I don't know." Lauren pressed her hand to Bo's shoulder and squeezed gently. "We all know that we can't tell her what she wants, we can't put anyone else in danger." The agreement from her cellmates was immediate and confident. "But those guns, Bo, what are we going to do?"

"I don't know yet." Bo lifted her attention to the darkness, alerted by the sound of footfalls. "If you're right, and she is unstable, then we play her game, call her bluff and see if we can piss her off enough. Maybe she'll lose control, make a mistake, and we'll have a chance."

The approaching leather-armored trio resembled malevolent shadows in the stark pools of cold ad unwelcoming electric light. The two armed men flanked Jaime, their guns aimed and ready, and covered the three women in the cell.

Confident of the control granted by the guns, Jaime did not hesitate to unbolt the cell door and step inside with her prisoners. The white-haired woman carried the hunting knife, which had been used to stage her own kidnapping, in a sheath on her belt as a further act of contemptuous disdain.

"Do you have answers to my questions?" Jaime demanded. "Or have you chosen who to sacrifice?"

"Why are you doing this?" Lauren argued, quickly slipping into the role required by their hurriedly improvised plan. "Why are you so angry?"

"Because they kill us," Jaime snarled. "They kill humans."

"Do you think that asserting your species gives you an automatic moral high ground? That you can excuse yourself?" Righteous ire filling Lauren's voice. "When I trained to be a doctor I did a rotation in the ER and saw some of the things humans do to each other just because they could, just for indifference, or hate or greed." The lanky blonde squared her jaw. "And when I was in the Congo I saw the aftermath of brutality that you could not even begin to imagine."

Lauren noted her own voice rising in force and volume, a sense of injustice stirring her heart to hammer and adrenalin to surge, but found herself unable to contain the outburst stirring within. Years of nightmares plaguing her dreams, and memories of sights that still haunted her in moments of quiet introspection, fueled her anger.

Alarmed by the harsh set of Lauren's angular features, and disturbed that the deliberate provocation was threatening to fracture the doctor's cultured restraint, Bo rested a warning hand on Lauren's arm, The doctor's lean body was tense with barely contained outrage.

Bo had seen Lauren swept away by emotional outbursts many times, but never one driven by so much fire. She nervously conceded that she was witnessing the unleashing of the powerful woman at the core of her lover; the part of her that was suppressed by servitude and the need to persevere, the part only rarely seen.

"Many of the Fae do no harm, they exist in a way you don't understand." Lauren's words poured forth in a spirited rush of indignation. "And yet you want to execute them for no crime, and then act like you are better than them because of your species."

Jaime's knife was at Lauren's throat before she could blink. "Our species," Jaime snapped, her top lip curling in a sneer that bared her teeth. "You are not one of them, collaborator."

The angle of the blade digging into the tender skin of her neck forced Lauren to raise her chin so that she would not be cut. Every primal instinct screamed at Bo to attack, to trust the speed and strength of her body, to lunge at Jaime and rip the life from her for daring to threaten Lauren. Striving for reason, her perceptive grasp of tactical advantage reminded Bo that she was blindsided and blocked from protecting both Kenzi and Lauren, and that deadly retribution would follow any action.

Taking care to not trigger either Jaime or her gun-toting partners into violence, Lauren slowly raised a hand, her palm showing and her index finger raised, to signal Bo to back down. Lauren's will was so firmly locked in battle with Jaime's that Lauren did not spare Bo a glance to persuade her, relying instead on their confidence in one another for her acquiescence.

The quiet and graceful serenity of the gesture stilled the predator within Bo.

"Protecting a murderer?" Jaime challenged. "Is that who you are?"

"She's not a murderer," Lauren answered, with firm conviction, "and I don't condemn her for who she was."

"Is that how you sleep at night?" Jaime cocked her head to the side, pantomiming curiosity, as her venom rose once more. "Is that how justify helping these monsters?"

"Bo isn't human, but the alternative is not saying that she's a monster," Lauren protested. "She could have killed you tonight, she didn't. She has the power to determine her own path, and I trust her with my life."

Lauren paused, her eyes widening in anxiety, as the point of Jaime's knife was pressed harder against her throat. Confronted by mortal threat, despite the insidious shadows of fright showing on her animated features, Lauren stood her ground and kept her raised hand as still and steady as a surgeon.

"We'll see." Jaime's voice softened to a silky purr.

The leather-clad human withdrew her blade and lowered it to her side as a clear display of her lack of apprehension at being in the cell. Lauren took a deep breath to try to calm her rattled nerves, hoping that the dampness on her skin was sweat rather than blood. The doctor relaxed her hand, confident that Bo's impetuousness was under control.

Trusting in her armed cover, Jaime stood toe to toe with Bo and allowed her eyes to trail insolently over the succubus' fine-boned face, the elegant sweep of her neck, and her generous cleavage, before dipping lower with a knowing grin.

Bo endured the fearless and unhurried perusal in stoic silence. An incomplete feed from Jaime had taken the edge off Bo's appetite, but the proximity of her most recent prey still quickened her senses. The succubus resisted the urge to moisten her lips as the fresh memory made her nipples pebble painfully and her sex throb in anticipation of having Jaime's fingers inside her again. Desperate to repress the urge to buckle in shame at her involuntary physical response, Bo stared straight ahead.

Witnessing Bo's struggle, Jaime glanced at Lauren and showed her a mean smirk as a reminder of her cruel taunting. Although Bo evaded Jaime's vicious mockery, Lauren chose instead to meet Jaime's challenge. Searching for a spark that would provoke her captor's instability, Lauren squared her shoulders, lifted her head, and returned Jaime's poisonous gaze with poised assurance.

Oblivious to the exchange, focused completely on maintaining control over her rising carnal hunger, Bo barely flinched as Jaime rested a gloved hand on her shoulder and gripped tightly. Jaime's bitter grin became sharper as her eyes filled with animal cunning and ice.

"Bo!" Lauren's cry of warning came too late to prevent Jaime's knife slamming into Bo's flank. Lauren's tortured keen of fright had no form beyond anguish.

Bo's primordial senses, ancient and enraged, drove her to lunge for Jaime in vengeance. Ethereal power rushed to her fingers to subdue her enemy, but faded harmlessly against leather. Bo's survival reaction strained to draw chi, but was out of range to establish a link. Pain ripped through the wounded succubus' body, erupting in her brain as signals of panic and distress that blinded her reason.

Jaime jerked her weapon free, triggering both a cry of agony from Bo and an empathic echo from Lauren. Bo's blood spattered the harsh concrete floor as Jaime shrugged off Bo's futile attempts to grasp at her jacket and touch her skin. "Your life is in her hands," Jaime gloated. "Let's see if you can make it till dawn."


	8. Chapter 8

Ignoring the threat of armed men, and the twisted victory smirk from Jaime, Lauren rushed to Bo's side. The willowy doctor struggled to hold Bo tightly enough to stop her from spilling to the unforgiving concrete. "Do it, Bo," Lauren hissed urgently, her eyes firmly locked on Jaime and her conspirators as they departed. "Do it. Take it from them."

The succubus' face was mask of anguish, and she blinked in confusion at Lauren's entreaty. "Take their chi, Bo. I've seen you do it, you need to do it again." Knowing that she was asking the succubus to kill, Lauren captured Bo's chin and guided her focus to the retreating trio. "Do it quickly or we're all going to die here."

As her consciousness began to fade, Bo's gaze softened in apology and sorrow, before her knees buckled beneath her.

"Help me, Kenzi," Lauren implored. "I can't hold her, she's too heavy." The doctor nodded to the far side of their cage. "Drag that bunk over here, hurry."

The rusty bunk squeaked in protest as the two women maneuvered their stricken companion onto its coarse blanket. With anxious eyes fixed on the bleeding wound, Lauren hurriedly unbuttoned her shirt, shrugged off the garment and then wadded it into a makeshift compress which she held firmly against Bo's flank to staunch the crimson flow.

Bo groaned at the pressure, squirming in agitation as if she could escape the pain. "Hold her," Lauren prompted. "Kenzi, hold her."

Quietly hoping that she was strong enough to restrain the succubus, the younger woman circled the bunk, then dropped to her knees to place one hand on Bo's hip and the other on her shoulder.

Kenzi winced as the doctor used her shirt to swab away the blood and expose the injury. The thief leaned hard on her friend to try to hold her still for the examination. "Don't move, Bo. Try not to move."

"Damn," Lauren muttered, as the blood flowed freely, "oh no, this is no good, she's going to bleed out." Lauren disregarded Bo's accompanying cry of pain as she pressed down firmly on the brutal wound.

"Doc, what do we do?" Kenzi asked, her glacial eyes widening in shock as scarlet stains bloomed through the shirt.

Lauren's professional self, well-tuned and cultivated over years of practice, gave her an immediate, clear and unequivocal insight into the desperate truth. "Bo? I need you to try and stay awake now. Stay awake and look at me, please." Rallying her nerve, Lauren smiled warmly at her fallen lover. "Listen to me, Bo, you have to listen. You know you're in trouble, don't you?" The doctor watched Bo drifting on the cusp of consciousness as she nodded her answer. "Then you know the only solution."

"No, I won't." Bo's fine features contorted as another spasm of agony ripped through her.

"Bo, you have to feed." Lauren's heart ached in sympathy as the proud succubus turned her pain-shadowed eyes away. "You have to, Bo, I can't stop the bleeding."

"I don't want to hurt you," Bo whispered, her voice cracking as she began to fade.

Lauren gently cupped Bo's chin in her palm and urged the brunette to look back into her loving gaze. "You will hurt us more if you die here, Bo." Lauren ignored Kenzi's curse, blinking away her own tears as she held Bo's focus and softly stroked her temple and her cheek. "Please, Bo, you have to."

"Stay with us," Kenzi pleaded. "We can do this, me and the Doc."

Lauren watched Bo's weary gaze drift to the younger woman, then fill with fondness and grief. Kenzi's youthful bright energy had granted Bo both the gift of emotional rebirth and the security of companionship. Loving affection and gratitude for the goth girl shone from Bo, inspiring a faint smile that lasted until the succubus' eyes fluttered shut.

"Damn it," Lauren protested, quickly pressing her fingertips to the ailing woman's neck, "don't you dare die on me, Bo." Stern and full of the commanding nature of her vocation, Lauren focused on the young scoundrel. "Kenzi, are you ready for this?"

"Me?"

Genuine confusion swept away Lauren's impulse to lash out. "I've never seen her feed on a human, I need to know what it looks like. And I have a better idea of when to step in." Lauren fixed Kenzi with an unapologetic glare. "You wouldn't know how to resuscitate me if you had to."

Understanding of the risk that they were both inviting in letting Bo feed finally registering, filling Kenzi with understanding. Her choice was evident in the bold lifting of her chin. "What should I do?" Kenzi asked quietly, collecting her courage in the face of peril.

"Put your mouth by hers," Lauren coached. "Let nature take its course, her body knows what to do."

A moment of doubt and hesitation creased Kenzi's brow. "What if she doesn't stop?"

"I'll be watching. You need to trust me, Kenzi," the doctor pressed.

The small thief nodded her compliance, then turned her attention to the prone woman. Clever hands came to rest on Bo's face, stroking her hair out of the way with honest care, before gently pulling her chin downwards. Kenzi leaned close and opened her mouth to offer a feed.

"Come on, Bo," Lauren murmured urgently. The succubus' eyes darted beneath her eyelids, showing some awareness of the proximity of prey. "She's right there, you can do it."

The terrified doctor felt warmth seeping through the fabric beneath her hand, Bo was bleeding to death right in front of her. Lauren suspected that Bo was resisting her most basic need. For the sake of saving Kenzi or Lauren from mortal harm, loving them both, Bo was choosing to give her own life. Lauren hoped that the predator within Bo, at the point of crisis, would override intent and take control.

"It's not working," Kenzi lamented. "Fuck this." To tempt the succubus to feed, to tap into Bo's most primitive desire, Kenzi tenderly brushed her soft tongue along Bo's luscious bottom lip, then kissed her best friend deeply and slowly on the mouth.

The fearless thief caressed Bo's full and silky smooth lips with her own, closing her eyes as she allowed herself to share breath and pick up the flavor of Bo's mouth. Kenzi cradled Bo's face with careful fingers, tracing along the refined contour of her cheekbone and jaw, as she gently stroked Bo's tongue with her own.

Lauren watched Kenzi's brow furrow in concentration. The younger woman was kissing Bo firmly, the subtle movement of her jaw showing that she was thorough and without compromise.

The moment of connection, as Bo's body surrendered to its basic need, was clear in the shudder that tore through Kenzi's body and dragged a throaty groan from her chest. The sable-haired girl's eyes snapped open, wide with stark alarm, and searched for Lauren for reassurance.

Kenzi broke the seal between her mouth and Bo's and lifted up a few inches to show smokey wisps of blue energy that first drifted lazily between them, then increased in intensity as the link flourished. Kenzi's muscles flexed rigid, small spasms making her tremble as a soft keen of panic escaped around the energy stream.

Observing the feeding, Lauren saw the tendons in Kenzi's neck tensing as hard as iron and her veins bulging prominently. The younger woman's nostrils flared as she fought to bring oxygen through the blue flux. Kenzi's newly starving body, desperate for fuel as her life energy was surrendered, shook beneath the onslaught of Bo's unleashed power.

As soon as Kenzi's icy blue eyes began to flutter and roll back in her head, Lauren grasped her shoulder and delivered a robust shove to break the link by force.

Bo's tortured body arched on the bunk, bucking free of the doctor's careful compression on her wound. The succubus bared her teeth, sounding a raw and bestial growl at the theft of sustenance. Fingers that grasped at Lauren as she pressed her shirt back over Bo's wound were rough enough to raise welts, but lacked the strength necessary to overwhelm.

Released from the subjugation of being fed upon, and under the momentum of Lauren's intervention, Kenzi sprawled onto the industrial concrete floor. For a few seconds her chest heaved as she caught her breath, before she groaned long and loud. Rolling onto her side, with both hands cupped between her thighs to protect sensitized flesh that twitched and throbbed, Kenzi gasped a string of curses in Russian.

Lauren brushed away Bo's weakening hands and leaned back onto the wound to keep the pressure strong as she watched Kenzi squirm. "Are you all right?" Lauren called.

Kenzi took another deep breath to gather herself, whimpered again, and clutched at her groin. "Wishing I wasn't wearing tight pants right now," Kenzi groused. "Holy crap, ladyboner."

Unable to resist a wry smile at the thief's wisecrack, Lauren gave her a rueful shrug. "Why do you think they don't fight?"

"You could have warned me," Kenzi whined, as another shudder rolled through her slight form.

"Would it have helped if I had?" Lauren countered. "Are you OK to continue?"

"A little dizzy," Kenzi conceded. "Feels like someone popped me right on the chin, again." Wincing and moving gingerly, Kenzi returned to her place at Bo's side. "What should I do, Doc? How do I know when to stop her?"

"When you can see the veins in my forehead and my temples whiten and start to pulse. You were right on the edge of unconsciousness, look out for the same," Lauren provided. "It'll be quick, so don't try to second guess yourself. We'll do this bit by bit."

The doctor sighed and took a second to glance upwards, towards a ceiling that was so high and dark that it could not be seen, gathering herself for what was to come. "I need you to take over for me, put your hand on this shirt and put as much pressure on it as you can."

"Why? Where are you going?" Kenzi protested.

Lauren guided Kenzi's small hand to the proper place over Bo's wound. "Harder, more pressure, you're not hurting her doing this," Lauren coached. "I need to do something to make this easier for her."

The quick-minded girl realized at once what the doctor intended. Kenzi's eyebrows rose towards her hairline as she leaned conspiratorially close to whisper to Lauren. "You're going to do her right here, Doc?"

Lauren bit her bottom lip briefly, before shrugging and nodding defiantly. Afraid of the uncertain consequences of ingesting Bo's blood, Lauren demurely ducked her head to spit on her fingers for lubrication. "I'm sorry, Bo," the gentle-hearted woman whispered, "I hope you can forgive me for this."

Reaching under Bo's skirt, and finding her path unimpeded, Lauren flashed a startled questioning frown to Kenzi. "She took her panties off in the car," Kenzi explained. "I'm sorry, Doc."

"That's OK, her choice," Lauren responded carefully. "She does what she has to, and so do I."

The golden-haired doctor carefully eased Bo's legs wider apart to make more space for her hand. After pausing for a moment with her palm cupping tenderly against Bo's sex, Lauren began to very gently stroke and tease the smooth silky folds in order to tempt an arousal response.

"Why didn't you do this when she fed on me?" Kenzi asked nervously.

"I've talked it over with Bo, it doesn't work like that." Lauren kept Kenzi's attention on her words, eager to distract her from the uncomfortable reality of Lauren's hand beneath Bo's skirt.

Joining in the charade, Kenzi feigned ignoring Lauren's explicit touch and focused on sustaining eye contact instead. The trickster offered Lauren a lifeline. "So how does it work?"

Relieved that Kenzi had granted an escape into science, distancing them both from considering the invasive nature of her actions, Lauren settled into her comfort zone. "There is no instrumentation on Earth to measure chi, so we have to hypothesize."

Raising her voice a little louder to cover a wanton groan seeping from Bo's unconscious lips, Kenzi offered her agreement. "It is weird and, if I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't believe it."

"I think that chi, as a manifestation of life energy, is freeform within the body," Lauren explained, her agile fingertips caressing Bo's most intimate flesh. "It's not concentrated or powerful in that form, but if Bo is in control of her gift she can tap it and use it." Warming to her ideas, Lauren's expressive features were animated with her enthusiasm. "Now consider, if she can do that, what purpose does sex serve?"

"You mean, what makes her a succubus?" Kenzi offered.

Lauren danced her fingertips around Bo's opening, patiently stimulating her nerves, testing and willing Bo to readiness. "Consider that sexual contact forms a complete cycle: from Bo's genitals up through her body to her mouth, from her mouth to theirs, from their mouth to however they penetrate her. A circuit is formed that makes the chi coalesce and become more potent, and allows it it to flow more freely."

"So if you did it when she fed on me, I would have been outside the loop, I get it," Kenzi nodded.

"This is why masturbating doesn't work. Bo's chi cycles on itself as a closed system, like a short circuit." Lauren stifled a gasp of relief as her fingers finally eased into the snug wet warmth of Bo's body. Rising up on her knees, Lauren placed her lips by those of the dying succubus. "Please, Bo, please don't resist this."

Taking inspiration from Kenzi, Lauren kissed her lover's relaxed mouth. Trying to trigger the instinct to feed, questing brushes of Lauren's tongue parted Bo's slack lips.

The link burst into life, beginning deep inside Lauren's body and spreading in a volcanic fluid rush. She felt herself soak her underwear, her swelling clitoris throbbing with an painful intensity, which was strong enough to draw a gasp from her. Lauren surrendered the last of her breath as her body tensed rigid. The circuit was completed, and the chi began to flow.

Lauren had mentally prepared for the sensation of regurgitation, as the luminescent sky blue nimbus became dense enough to form a stream and pour freely from her mouth, but chi had no mass and offered no sensation. Lauren's lungs ached with the need to draw breath, her heart began to thunder erratically from stress, and her blood rushed through her veins with the vigorous force of pressurized steam.

Confounded by the feeding, Lauren's analytical mind was unable to discern if her body was reacting to the basic adrenalin-fueled fear of being consumed, or if she was experiencing the deadly side effect of an extraction process that did not spare the donor.

Beneath her, Bo's fierce eyes snapped open in reflex and glowed a hectic neon blue. A deep rumbling growl reverberated from the succubus' chest; an ancient sound driven by the raw imperative to survive at all costs. Bo's Fae nature asserted itself in noise and menace as her regenerative gift knitted torn fibers, repaired severed nerves and sealed blood vessels.

Kenzi broke the link with quick and deft hands; one covered Bo's mouth to interrupt the stream, although it was not within the capacity of her human senses to perceive it, the other rested on Bo's forehead to turn her face away and out of range.

The intervention prompted another snarl and violent spasm from Bo. The electric light of feeding in her eyes was extinguished, to be replaced with the dangerous obsidian of arcane rage. "Bo, look at me," Kenzi demanded. "You have to stop, OK? Just stop."

Oblivious to Kenzi's appeal to Bo's consciousness, Lauren's chin dropped towards her chest and she slouched to the side in a heady daze. Lauren's fingers slipped from Bo's body, terminating the circuit completely, making both women groan in pain and loss.

Freed from the succubus' dominion, Lauren's muscles relaxed and she spilled helplessly onto the grimy floor. Tormented by the aftermath of the feeding, Lauren hitched a tortured sob as an excruciating orgasm ripped through her. Only aware of her trauma, fearful of full bodily arrest, Lauren allowed her cheek to rest on the coarse filthy concrete and silently pleaded for the autonomic system error to pass.

"Damn it, Doc," Kenzi wailed. "We need you, don't you dare fucking die on us."

Lauren winced her way through a deep breath, then blinked back the urge to close her eyes and pass out. The faint taste of blood prompted her to run her tongue around her teeth and wonder if she had been hurt taking the tumble, or if the injury was something more profound from being fed upon.

"Hurts," Lauren muttered, before rubbing her chest to ease the ache. "I guess a warning really wouldn't have helped, right?"

"Can you move?" Kenzi's relief at hearing Lauren speak was obvious in the kindness of her tone.

"I think so."

On the brink of another violent orgasm, already sore between her legs, the doctor awkwardly sat up and then groaned as the seam of her jeans ground against her. Dizzy and disorientated, her mind swimming, Lauren levered herself up onto the edge of the bunk, before allowing herself to rest her head in her hands.

"Got to a three-count before you looked like you were going to stroke out or something," Kenzi provided, nervousness straining her voice.

Lauren nodded her understanding of the young thief's distress. "Just keep the pressure on, Kenzi," the doctor urged. Lauren scrubbed her brow with a shaking hand. "Just hold on a little longer."

"Maybe closing the circuit wasn't such a good idea?" Kenzi offered. "You look wasted, Doc."

"There should have been more," Lauren murmured. "Bo told me that there would be more."

"Is it working?" Kenzi's wide and earnest eyes shone with threatening tears in the harsh electric light. "Are we helping her?"

Although exhaustion weighed on her shoulders, clouding her capacity for reason with the desperate longing to lay down and rest, Lauren concentrated her focus back onto Bo. "Pressure," Lauren scolded.

"Aren't you going to look?" the thief demanded.

"I don't have to." Lauren captured Bo's forearm with her free hand and turned it towards the light to expose the wrist that Bo had injured. The skin was still streaked with blood and heavily bruised, but the laceration had vanished. "She's healing. I know this is shallow and minor in comparison, but she is healing." Lauren laid the hand on Bo's chest. "This is the best we can do."

Vigilant of the seeping warmth of Bo's blood soaking the shirt beneath her hand, Kenzi opened her mouth to protest the inaction. Her argument was promptly interrupted by a stirring and low murmur from Bo, snapping the goth girl's attention back to her fallen friend. "Bo? Can you hear us? Doc, is she awake?"

Quietly hushing Kenzi's agitated questions, Lauren smiled warmly in welcome as Bo struggled first to open her eyes, and then blink wearily at the two human women sitting in guardianship over her.

"Welcome back, Bo," Lauren said. The doctor gently trailed her fingers from Bo's temple to her chin "Try and stay awake. We need you to try, OK?"

With pain creasing her brow into a confused scowl, Bo groaned softly. The hands that she moved to the wound were carefully deflected. "Hurts like a bitch. What happened?"

"Don't try to move." Unable to resist, Lauren leaned close to kiss Bo's sweat-dampened forehead.

"Have I...?" Bo hesitated, her eyes darting anxiously between the two human women, "I mean, did I...?"

"You don't remember?" Lauren asked. The doctor chanced a momentary glance to Kenzi and saw traces of relief etched on her face.

A potent blend of stress and shame deepened Bo's anguished frown. "Did I hurt you?" Darkness filled her gaze. "Did I make you?"

"No way, Bo," Kenzi said, squeezing her friend's shoulder in reassurance. "Our choice. Right, Doc?"

Lauren nodded absently at the younger woman's words. The tears that she had long since conditioned herself to defy shedding threatened to be her undoing. Lauren ran her elegant fingers through her lover's hair, then cradled Bo's face in her palm. "Whatever it takes, I won't lose you."

"We're both here for you," Kenzi gently corrected.

Bo squared her jaw and steeled herself. "I can't."

"You mean you won't," Lauren riposted. She stroked the brunette's cheek with a gentle thumb. "Why won't you let us help you? Please, tell us."

Captivated by Lauren's warm and loving gaze, Bo found that the words came easily to her. "I'm afraid," she admitted. "I'm so scared that, if I did it once, it would be too tempting and too easy to keep doing it. I don't want that, I don't want you to be food, I don't want to be a succubus with you."

Heartbroken by Bo's self-denial, and heavy-headed with fatigue, Lauren searched within her professional self for the detachment that it would grant her. "You're in trouble, Bo, you're still bleeding and you still need to feed. You are a succubus. Kenzi and I both know it, we both accept it. Please, let it save your life."

Bo battled the instinct to refuse, to swear that she would never do them harm, and to turn her face away in shame. "I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't," Lauren insisted.

"I was hungry before," Bo reminded. "And now I'm hurt too? I don't know I can stop."

"You can, we'll help you," Lauren soothed.

"We've done it once already," Kenzi reminded. "With you back in charge? Piece of chi-frosted cake." Bo could not resist giving the Russian girl a reluctant half-smile. "It's not what you want, we get it," Kenzi continued, "but you didn't want to get stabbed in the gut either. So you're going to have to suck it up." Kenzi flashed a cheeky smirk. "Literally."

That Kenzi could draw even the smallest of cautious grins from Bo filled Lauren with hope. "Bo? Are you able to tell how quickly we are generating chi?" the doctor asked.

Bo sighed and shook her head. "I have no idea how much you have to give, I can't tell without creating a link." She glanced nervously at Lauren. "It's pretty obvious you're exhausted though."

"Are we recharging?" the blonde persisted.

"I don't know, I haven't exactly had the same human twice," Bo admitted.

"Try me first, I've had longer to get my breath back." Kenzi summoned her nerve, then squared her narrow shoulders and fixed a neutral expression on her elfin features. "If there's anything I can do to make it easier for you, or make more chi, then I'll do it." Her small hand squeezed Bo's shoulder. "Whatever it is, whatever you need, just say so and I will."

"Kenz?" Bo asked, her confusion becoming clear in the uneasy darting of her eyes between the two women.

A faint blush pinked Kenzi's pale cheeks. "It's not like I'm suggesting we go steady or anything, but it's really not a big deal."

"I showed her," Lauren provided, keen to defuse Bo's mounting bewilderment. "I touched you." The blonde felt her stomach drop as the burden of her guilty confession struck her. "I wanted the chi to cycle through us both to improve the potency, so I touched you." Although the need to apologize came naturally to Lauren, she knew that, if challenged, she would not doubt her decision to act.

"I can do it," Kenzi added. "I mean it."

"No," Bo retorted sharply. The vehemence of her response made Bo contort with pain, then add her hand to the pressure on her flank, which was stemming the flow of blood from her wound. "No, Kenz, it can't be like that." Bo's voice faded as her eyes resolutely turned away from her friends.

"Why not?" Kenzi argued. "We wouldn't actually be having sex, right? It's not like you fuck your gynecologist." The thief watched a blend of sheepishness and amusement pass between her friends. "Oh, great."

"No, Kenz," Bo insisted. "I appreciate that you're willing to try, but if it's too good it'll be harder to stop."

"Too good?" Kenzi grumbled. "Awkward."

"Enough," Lauren scolded. "You can talk about this," she paused to watch them both squirm, "or not, some other time. We need to get this wound closed, and some fresh blood produced."

"Yeah, let's do this." Kenzi rallied her confidence once more, before yielding her position covering the injury. "Do we have to kiss?"

Bo reached out to Kenzi to guide her close enough, then found the energy to give her a properly salacious wink. "Just open your mouth and relax."

Bo's eyes shone radiant sapphire blue as the life energy within Kenzi obeyed the succubus' imperative to form a nourishing translucent link between them. The indomitable goth girl held her ground against the uncanny assault. Kenzi's already milky skin turned paler still from the pain of extraction and the theft of her fundamental vitality.

Lauren felt Bo shuddering beneath her hand as the vital power flowed into her and flooded deep into her damaged tissues. Experienced eyes told her that Bo was engaging her formidable discipline to moderate the stream and not take too much, too quickly. Resisting her hunger when healthy took strength, to do it when wounded required an extraordinary act of will.

To protect Bo and Kenzi's welfare, and to fulfill her never-ending thirst for knowledge, Lauren's eager mind studied them both. The doctor recognized that Bo's technique was kinder now that she was awake, taking special care to ensure that Kenzi was free to pull away at any time. With the advantage of being fully cognizant of what was happening, and Bo making no effort to restrain her, Kenzi's consent was all that sustained the feeding. The slight woman's eyes turned noticeably darker as strong sexual arousal dilated her pupils.

Bo broke the bond with a shuddering gasp that Kenzi involuntarily echoed. The succubus arched her back, then quaked hard under the intense cellular activity. Kenzi buckled against the bunk, resting on the coarse blanket as pre-orgasmic tremors wrenched a cry from her throat, before turning her face away in embarrassment.

Lauren used the shirt to wipe blood from the wound so that she could inspect the damage. Careful fingers probed the injury. "Good, you're barely bleeding," the doctor mused. "There's some tissue re-growth. It's soft, fibrous and incomplete, but it is healing."

The doctor re-folded the blood-sodden shirt to cover the seeping.

Lauren pushed her hair back behind her ears and then positioned herself in range. "Ready, Bo?"

The succubus rested her hand on the nape of Lauren's neck, rubbing in gratitude and comfort, and then firmly grasped her shoulder . Bo softly swept a light lick against her lover's bottom lip, before kissing the offered mouth.

Bo's eyes briefly glowed azure as a faint mist of chi roiled up from deep inside Lauren's chest, drifting sluggishly from her to coat Bo's tongue.

The demands of her predator nature, her need for sustenance, threatened to strip away Bo's reason and make her a killer. Bo held the image of Lauren clearly in her mind: her easygoing smile, the way that her eyes shone in excitement when she explained a theory, the taste of her, and the way that she called Bo's name when she came. Concentrating on the memories, Bo pledged herself to keep Lauren safe at all costs.

The first tang of chi sent a burst of adrenalin-soaked panic through Bo. Frantic and terrified, Bo levered Lauren from her, then snapped her mouth shut to sever the link.

"No, stop," Bo exclaimed. "We have to stop." The dark-haired woman sighed in sorrow at the unrestrained rejection that was filling her lover's features. "We can't, Lauren. I've taken too much from you already."

"Is there nothing?" Lauren protested. "Let me help you, please."

"You don't understand," Bo whispered. "You're right on the edge, any more and you'll die." She closed her eyes tightly, unable to bear the truth that was weighing on her. When Bo spoke again, her voice was soft and full of grief. "You don't know how close you were, Lauren. You can't give any more, you wouldn't survive."

"No, we have to try," Lauren argued. "Wait a few minutes and try again. There might be enough then, enough for you to use."

"Lauren, no," Bo warned.

"Damn it, Bo. We aren't going to get out of here without you, and you can barely even stand in this condition." Lauren tenderly stroked the Fae woman's brow. "We need you."

"If I could stand, if I was mobile, you'd be in danger." Exhausted and anguished, Bo let her civilized facade drop. The huntress within manifested with deadly clarity. "Jaime didn't realize that she was doing you a favor."

Lauren struggled to not recoil at the harsh lines that stress drew on Bo's face, the lifting of her top lip in a feral scowl, and the savage calculation in her eyes. "You don't trust yourself," Lauren concluded.

"How could I?" The sullen words nearly choked Bo. "I'm hungry."

Lauren's adept fingers trailed a path along Bo's firmly set jawline. "Jaime doesn't know you, she doesn't know anything. We believe in you, and we know that you won't surrender to this. You won't hurt us, Bo."

"She's right," Kenzi added, in defiance of the physical rigors of feeding and the peril that it placed her in. "You always beat it, you will again."

Lauren guided Bo's attention back to her. "We're not afraid, Bo. You go to the edge every time, but you never let the darkness take you."

"If you can't get it from the Doc, you can keep taking it from me," Kenzi declared, then sparkled an irresistibly wicked grin at them both. "It's been a while, you can probably Supersize my chi by now."

"We'll take it slow, little by little," Lauren advised, as Bo and Kenzi shared a dirty chuckle. "You'll be in control, Bo. Lead us and show us the way."


	9. Chapter 9

The rich and rusty scent of her own blood, blending with the musty stink of the blanket which she was lying on, filled Bo's nostrils and made her queasy. Keen to distance herself from the nauseating smell, Bo pressed a protective hand over her wounded flank, then braced herself to sit upright. Although she moved gingerly, a starburst of glassy pain radiated from the stab wound. Bo gritted her teeth to suppress her groan and not disturb the two human women who shared her cell.

Kenzi sat on the rough concrete ground. Her head was cradled on folded arms, which rested on the edge of the bunk, and her sable tresses tumbled over her sleeping features. Two more chi exchanges had drained Kenzi to near collapse. Bo spared her a guilty glance, desperately aware that much more and her friend would be in genuine danger.

Lauren sat against the bars of the cell, either dozing or simply lost deep in thought. Her forearms rested on raised knees, and her head was bowed so low that Bo could not tell if her eyes were open or not. Bo's stomach squirmed anxiously as she recalled realizing that Lauren's life had been hanging by a thread.

Bo carefully and quietly peeled the blood-sticky shirt from the injury in her side, so that she could inspect the damage unnoticed and uninterrupted. The flesh around the puncture was swollen, bruised black, and hot to the touch. Hissing through her teeth, Bo eased a curious fingertip into the laceration and noted the pulpy feel of her recovering flesh.

"Be careful, you'll tear."

Bo gave Lauren a sheepish lop-sided grin. "I think the bleeding has stopped."

Weakened and drained, Lauren gripped the bars to steady herself as she rose and gestured to Kenzi. "Can she take much more?"

"No," Bo sighed. "She's tougher than she looks, and she's kind of horny, but she's about done."

Lauren crossed the tiny cell to sit shoulder to shoulder beside Bo. The two tired women supported one another. "Can you fight like this, Bo?"

"If I protected my side, maybe," Bo allowed. "I'm sorry I got you involved."

Lauren's answer was swift and confident. "Never any regrets, Bo. I learned my lesson. I loved Nadia, and I lost her. They stole five years from us and then I had to say goodbye. Time is all we have and I will treasure every moment, and never regret."

Bo found herself returning her the doctor's irresistible easygoing smile. "I wish I could kiss you," Bo breathed, as she gazed in longing at Lauren's generous mouth, "but I can't."

"I understand." Lauren leaned closer, briefly bumped noses with Bo, then rested her forehead against her lover's. "When this is over, when you're healed, I want you to take me home and take me to bed."

The belief in Lauren's words, her vision of their future beyond the bars, lifted Bo's spirit and filled her with hope. "As if." Bo's grin became wolfish. "You'll take me."

Lauren chuckled and gave a conceding shrug, before slipping an arm around Bo to embrace her and find solace.

Car engine sounds, sudden and startling in the still of the night, made both women freeze and hold their breath. The remote riverfront warehouse was in such a rundown part of the city that logic told them there could be no casual purpose for vehicles to be approaching.

Lauren released Bo, reached to the far edge of the bunk to grasp Kenzi's shoulder, then carefully shook the younger woman. Although she was exhausted, Kenzi's street smart awareness brought her instantly awake. The thief's eyes widened at the idling motors beyond the walls. "Crazy bitch has friends?" she asked.

The first gunshot made all three of them jump. A volley of shots, louder still, from the automatic weapon that one of the thugs had wielded followed. Muffled shouting from outside the building was drowned out by another sustained burst.

"Rescue party?" Kenzi guessed.

Bo narrowed her eyes at the dark void beyond the flood lights. "I think we should get down." Adrenaline cancelled the pain in her side as she shepherded Kenzi and Lauren to the farthest corner of the cell, then urged them to crouch down with her. "If whatever that is comes in here guns blazing and firing wild, we're in trouble."

Bo spread her arms to embrace both the human women, before pulling them closer to make them a smaller target. Selfless as always, Bo offered her own body as a shield.

Illuminated by dazzling muzzle flashes, Jaime's iron-haired accomplice back-pedaled steadily into the warehouse. The gun at his shoulder fired balanced three-round bursts at the massive man who was bearing down him with single-minded aggression. Discipline, in addition to the disorientated disbelief that his target did not fall, kept the gunman firing.

The impacting bullets did not slow the new intruder's relentless pursuit. Gunfire ripped at his suit jacket and the crisp shirt beneath it. The shots peppering his flesh, at increasingly shorter range, sounded wet and meaty, but no blood ran.

"Oh no, they're dreadnoughts," Lauren groaned. "That means Dark Fae, Bo. They're Dark."

"Get your head down," Bo hissed. Cradling the doctor within her protective shelter, Bo braced herself against further injury.

The dreadnought closed the gap between himself and the gunman with a lunge. The weapon was jerked away and thrown aside contemptuously. With no further expression, no hesitation or doubt, the dreadnought dragged the gunman close and wrapped both mighty arms around him. The embrace turned deadly as the dreadnought straightened his body, lifting the human off his feet, and crushed his back with one strong squeeze.

The dreadnought dropped his victim, as loose as a rag doll, and stepped over him to secure the space. More of his stoney-faced kind, also with bullet-riddled clothing, entered the warehouse, then fanned out to form a protective perimeter as the last of the gunfire ended.

As one, with no need for orders, the sturdy eagle-eyed warriors dipped their heads in a bow. Flawless in the execution of their incursion, their role changed; from indomitable invaders, to steadfast bodyguard and loyal escort for their queen.

The Morrigan walked with a relaxed and feline grace, as if she had all of the time in the world. Scarlet lips were shaped in an irritated pout. The experience of ages in the Dark queen's eyes filled her with shadows and spite.

Bo felt her body call out in lustful need as the Morrigan's deliberately calculated posture displayed her lush and feminine curves as a provocative offering. Offended at the thought of being mocked for cowering in the corner, pleading with herself to not collapse in agony, Bo slowly rose. Lauren's arm slipped discretely around Bo's waist, sharing her strength, so that Bo could stand tall before the monarch. Kenzi stood close enough at Bo's free side to mask the doctor's hand from casual sight.

"Three pretty birds in a cage," the Morrigan's voice was filled with a lilting and gleeful derision, "what shall I do?"

The elegant beauty prowled the cell wall, her eyes to caressing each of the prisoners in turn, before coming to a halt in front of Kenzi. The slight young woman stood her ground beneath the amused scrutiny, despite every instinct pleading with her to bow her head and make herself small.

"You? There is such spirit within you." The Morrigan reached through the bars to softly trail the backs of her fingers across Kenzi's cheek. The covetous smile that she gave Kenzi made her dark eyes shine. "In a few years you will be extraordinary, and we will have to look at you again."

The Morrigan's touch was a seductive invitation. The urge to plead to be permitted to kneel at her feet in return for her boon stunned Kenzi to silence, then made her heart beat faster. Chastened by sensations of virginal inadequacy, Kenzi's pale skin flushed hard before she turned her face away.

"Doctor Lauren Lewis," the Morrigan continued, with appreciation sounding clearly in her voice.

"Morrigan," Lauren acknowledged. Lauren gave the mildest respectful incline of her head, but did not relinquish eye contact with the ruler of the Dark.

Lauren pulled away from the perfectly manicured hand as Evony reached through the bars once more; denying her the chance to repeat the same intimate face caress. The Morrigan's beauty tempted Lauren, making her body ache with unwanted and unwelcome desire.

Tutting in disapproval of Lauren's refusal, the Morrigan's impudent fingernails brushed sensually from Lauren's chin to her neck.

Lauren allowed Evony's menacing touch against her fragile skin with as much composure as she could muster. The doctor tightened the supportive arm circling the wounded succubus' waist, then stroked Bo's flank with her thumb in an effort to soothe her away from a counter-productive burst of anger.

The Morrigan stroked a path down the hollow of Lauren's throat to the amulet that she wore. Evony's sardonic eyes flashed with challenge, then dared the doctor to protest the warm fingers against her sternum, before blatantly acknowledging that Lauren's cami outlined her hardening nipples.

"Silly trinkets and baubles," Evony crooned. "I could take this from you, do you know that?"

"So I could wear yours instead?" Lauren answered coolly. "I don't think so."

"Oh, but I would never deny you knowledge like they do, never keep anything from you." The Morrigan's desire was unapologetic; not for Lauren's body, but for the power of her intellect. "Your talent is wasted by them, by their petty limitations. You would never be shackled with such silly notions of morality."

"My morals are my own," Lauren retorted firmly.

The Morrigan hummed a petulant sound of disbelief before turning to the succubus. "Bo, what am I going to do with you?" Her exquisite face shone with cruel good humor.

"You won't do anything with me," Bo snapped, after ignoring the soft hush of warning from Lauren.

"So ungrateful," the Morrigan sighed, "and from someone locked inside a jail cell."

"Morrigan, she's injured," Lauren interrupted, before the Fae women tested one another's will in earnest, and power confronted defiance. Knowing that Bo would never back down from battle, Lauren surrendered for her. Dropping her gaze, then dipping her head in obeisance, the honorable woman submitted. "Please, help us."

The sidhe queen's intense obsidian gaze blazed in triumph, her dark curly locks tumbled around her shoulders as she laughed wickedly. Delighting in the discord, Evony moistened her sultry lips with the tip of her tongue, then let herself bask in the scorching glare of outrage that Bo turned on Lauren. The ability of the human woman to square her shoulders and stare down Bo's anger was carefully noted, as was the embrace helping Bo to stay upright.

"Very well," the Morrigan said, then turned to a bodyguard to issue her commands. "Find the key. And have that woman bought to me."

The bodyguard bowed his understanding and hurried to his task.

"That's it?" Bo demanded. "No bargain?" A spasm of pain, fearsome enough to threaten to double her over, rippled through her body. Bo stifled a groan, gritted her teeth, and gripped the bars tightly.

Evony thoughtfully rubbed her chin, feigning consideration. "Do you wish to talk terms with me, girl?" With just the bars separating them, the deadly woman placed her hand over Bo's, before giving the succubus' whitening knuckles a soothing rub. "I'm more than strong enough to help you, Bo. Would you like me to?"

"Bo," Lauren nervously whispered, "be careful."

The ruthless smile which creased Evony's features, and the raising of a sculpted eyebrow, clarified the offer. "It's a little basic for my taste, of course, but prison cell chic has a certain charm." She made a point of ignoring the doctor's caution as she examined the cell. "These humans might have kept you alive, but you need real strength, strength like you could never imagine. I could give that to you, all you have to do is say the word, Bo."

The mellow velvet of her words contrasted with spite as Evony spared a glance for Lauren. "All you have to do is say please as beautifully as she does, Bo, and you could have all the power that you need. That's all you have to do."

Lauren felt a frigid chill of fear as Bo stared hungrily at the Morrigan's full, lush, red, pouting lips, then shuddered with carnal need. The Morrigan enchanted with words and promises of all of the gifts that she could grant, and her natural sensual magnetism helped her to snare her prey. Lauren's weary body felt an awareness of the Morrigan's allure, even though she was not its target, and clamored for her to offer herself to serve the Morrigan's whim.

Evony took the final half step to stand at the iron bars, to be close enough to share breath with her prey. "Ask me to make love to you, Bo. Ask me, and you can have it all."

Lauren's capricious mind's eye, enraptured by the Morrigan's seductive nature, showed her an image of the two Fae women in an embrace. Lauren imagined Bo submitting to the dark queen's touch, serving her prodigious desires, and being forever enslaved and lost to the darkness. Mustering her courage in the face of phantom grief, Lauren captured Bo's jaw in her strong fingers, forced her to look away from Evony, then broke the spell in the only way that she knew.

Lauren kissed Bo fiercely, tasting and teasing her lips one at a time, before pressing her tongue into Bo's mouth and kissing her deeply. The human woman staked her claim before the dark ruler.

As startled as she was by losing the arcane connection with Evony, and by Lauren's aggression, Bo still greeted the kiss with a soft moan into Lauren's open mouth, then welcomed her tongue with light licks of her own. The succubus felt Lauren exhale hard against her cheek as the blonde sounded her passion, Bo echoed with loving praise of her own.

As quickly and roughly as the kiss had begun, Lauren broke free. She met the Morrigan's disdain with as much resolute confidence as she could summon. "You could touch her, but you will never make love to her," Lauren stated simply.

The human women felt her nerves fraying, as her emotions ebbed once more and reason was restored. Recognition of the boldness of her affirmation crystalized within Lauren's mind, she looked anxiously to Bo in anticipation of protest or denial.

With glossy lips still parted from their kiss, the succubus was waiting for her gaze. Warmth shone in Bo's deep chocolate brown eyes. She curled her generous mouth into an affectionate smile, which filled the loving blonde with fortitude and faith.

Ridicule twisted Evony's delicate features. "How tedious," she jeered.

The bodyguard, which the Morrigan had given her orders to, returned to her side. A procession of his colleagues followed close behind. Two of them flanked Jaime; one at each arm, holding her tightly, as if resistance was still an option.

The rangy human had been stripped of her leather jacket and gloves. Beaten bloody in the fight, Jaime's fiery blue-eyed scowl had been dulled. The plain blue T-shirt, which Jaime had worn beneath her jacket, was sodden and stained by streaming injuries at her brow and temple.

Dazed and overcome by the shock of the Dark Fae's blitz on the warehouse, which had left her comrades slain, Jaime could barely stand. The truth of the Fae had been revealed; to the horror, and then to the death, of the human resistance.

The beautiful woman, who had strolled through the carnage in high heels and couture, affected a frown of boredom as she received her prisoner. The Morrigan caught hold of a handful of blonde hair, forced the human to lift her head, then tilted Jaime's head from side to side as if studying a curious and mildly repellent specimen.

"Did you really think you could murder my kind without facing justice?" the Morrigan taunted.

Pinned in place by entities stronger than any human, Jaime found resolve enough to return the Morrigan's contempt, and spat in her face. "Go on," Jaime goaded, "kill me."

The Morrigan took a plain silk handkerchief from her bodyguard, before pouting in disgust as she dabbed her cheek. "Oh, I intend to, whelp."

Lauren's gut squirmed in sympathy as she saw Jaime's rebelliousness become shadowed by fear. The doctor knew that the leanan sidhe was capable of liquifying her prey if pushed to anger, a feat that she could make torturous at will. The Morrigan's right hand was already beginning to glow with channeled energy.

"Morrigan!" Lauren called out, surprising herself, "mercy. In the name of the Ash, mercy."

The eyes that the Dark Fae queen turned to Lauren glittered like onyx. "You are trying my patience, human," Evony snapped, curling her lip in disgust at the word as her temper began to seethe. "There is no Ash and you have no power. Still your tongue, or I will have it cut from your head."

"Then open the cell," Bo argued. "And let me fight for her."

Lauren knew that Bo's words were raw bravado, as the shapely succubus was still leaning on her for support. On pure trust alone, Bo was trying to follow Lauren's lead by offering to protect Jaime.

"I've maybe got a little left in the tank," Kenzi whispered. "Take it."

Bo offered the youngest of the trio a fond smile. Kenzi was noticeably weakened, her smaller body having struggled to provide the nourishment that had saved Bo's life. That she offered, without hesitation or fear, granted Bo some solace. Bo leaned closer to the Russian, to brush her lips against Kenzi's smooth forehead in gratitude.

"You missed," Kenzi grumbled.

Dismissing the exchange between the two women, Evony focused on Bo once more. "You would fight for a human who would drive a blade into your back at the first opportunity?" The Morrigan tugged sharply on Jaime's hair, delivering a jolt of stinging pain to force her to a more wakeful state. "Human, how many have you killed?"

"Not as many as you," Jaime retorted. The weakness of her voice betrayed her failing tenacity.

Smoldering with malice, the Morrigan jerked Jaime's head to the side, exposing her cheek, then firmly pressed glowing fingers against the defeated human's skin.

Jaime struggling for purchase against the concrete floor, desperately seeking to escape the burning. The creatures that held her arms were immovable, and the curvaceous form of the Morrigan concealed her unnatural power. Conjured from spite, summoned power scorched Jaime's skin as the Morrigan drew uncanny life energy from her. The human woman resisted, for as long as she could endure, before keening like a wounded animal.

Amused and satisfied by Jaime's cries of anguish, the Morrigan released her victim. A ferocious vulpine smile bared Evony's teeth and she rubbed her fingers together, as if sampling a fine fabric. The sovereign surveyed Jaime with vicious delight; although Jaime was restraining her sobbing, tears streamed from her eyes and streaked the blood on her face.

Unconcerned by further retaliation, Evony took a step closer, so that her body rubbed against Jaime's, then put her full red lips to the broken woman's ear and purred her victory. "Now you understand, don't you? Now you know what you have done."

"Stop it," Bo demanded. Pain from her wound, in addition to revulsion at the Morrigan behaving like a cat toying with injured prey, sent nausea and dizziness to Bo's already fatigued and hunger-weakened mind.

The Morrigan cocked her head in interest, directing her full attention back to Bo. "A trade then?"

"Be careful, Bo," Lauren breathed, from her place at the succubus' side.

"Her life for yours?" the Morrigan taunted. "You won't give yourself to me, although I could make your dreams come true." Evony swept covetous inky black eyes over Bo. "But would you kneel to save her life?"

"Bo, you mustn't," Lauren insisted.

"Bo, don't," Kenzi added, seeing as plainly as the doctor that Bo's discipline was beginning to fracture. "Not like this."

"This is a crusade for Jaime," Lauren persisted. "She won't stop just because you sacrifice yourself." The doctor spoke quickly and urgently, certain that the Morrigan was mercurial and hot tempered enough to make her ultimatum a reality.

"I can't let her die." Bo's declaration wavered with unconcealed anguish.

Bo's capacity for grief and compassion for their tormentor, at the risk of her own safety, neither shocked nor surprised the human doctor. The blonde felt a stirring of pride at Bo's generous nature. The succubus was more humane than anyone that Lauren had ever met; radiant with kindness, and consumed by a determination to do the right thing and atone for herself.

Lauren searched for the steel within herself. As noble as Bo's motives might be, they were a path to ruin with the Morrigan. "Jaime chose this," Lauren fenced, "and she'll choose it again. She's a martyr, Bo, you can't save her."

"Enough!" the Morrigan sneered. The Fae queen's mounting ill-temper was evident in the irritated tapping of a skyscraper heel against grimy concrete. All of the dreadnought bodyguards stood straighter, alert to hear the next instruction. "Because you asked so nicely, mercy it is."

The Fae flanking Jaime dragged her arms roughly out to her sides, then drove her to her knees with enough force to whip her head backwards, so that her seared skin was displayed. A dreadnought in a bullet-shredded jacket circled in front of Jaime, grasped the neck of her T-shirt and ripped until tattered cloth bared her tensed shoulders and the upper slopes of her breasts. Striving to remain conscious, Jaime did not struggle.

"The Morrigan said mercy," Kenzi hissed, "what are they doing?"

One of the cohort of dreadnoughts stepped forward, bowed in ritual submission, then presented the Dark Fae queen a sword in an elaborate scrollwork scabbard.

The Morrigan drew the offered weapon with an elegant flourish. The blade was narrow and gleamed like quicksilver. The hilt and cross guard were resplendent with incandescent jewels. A deep red gem, polished to a smooth orb, crowned the pommel. The sword was not merely a symbol of power; the Morrigan handled it with single-minded poise and finesse, which confirmed to the caged trio that she had wielded it many times before.

Aware of stressed tightness in her throat, and newly forming tears on her eyelashes, Bo reached out to Kenzi and urged the slender young woman to press closer against her flank. The honorable succubus placed herself as the keystone for her lover and her friend. "Don't look, either of you," Bo firmly counseled.

Kenzi accepted the embrace, then used Bo's shoulder to hide her face. One of the small thief's arms joined Lauren's in supporting their champion, the other stretched across Bo's stomach to grasp a desperate handful of Lauren's cami top. The gentle doctor caught hold of Kenzi's extended forearm, before bowing her own head.

Jaime's exposed chest began to rapidly rise and fall as she gasped terrorized breaths. There was no request for last words, no grandstanding, no pleas for clemency. The vengeful regent turned the sword point down, carefully placed the tip of the blade just above Jaime's left clavicle, then plunged downwards in one single deft stroke.

Bo held on to the two human women in her life, giving them both shelter in her strength, as she bore witness to Jaime's final seconds. Powerless behind the bars, Bo offered the mortally wounded woman a comforting moment of connection as she tried to project grace and sorrow in her gaze.

Jaime closed her eyes and died alone.

The Morrigan released her grip on the weapon as Jaime's lifeless body collapsed to the ground, then turned her attention to the three women who were clinging together for sanctuary. Bo was the only one of the trio with the audacity to glare back.

"No more pain, no more suffering," Evony crooned. "It was quick, was it not? It was merciful?" The leanan sidhe's brazen scorn faded to a mask of unequivocal command. "This sordid episode ends today, with this execution. Do you yield?"

Profoundly aware that they were still trapped in a prison cell within an abandoned warehouse, and that her hunger would inevitably endanger Lauren and Kenzi, Bo knew that she was being ambushed. "Agreed," Bo acquiesced, although the word nearly choked her.

The Morrigan summoned a dreadnought to her side with a cursory gesture. "See them set free and unharmed," she ordered sternly. "You are to service the succubus in any way she requires until she is at full health." Evony's mean smile returned as she glanced aside to Bo. "Please try not to kill him, it is such a nuisance to wait for them to grow to full size." She allowed herself a moment to savor Bo's distressed recoiling at the notion. "Of course, if this one revolts you, then say so and pick another. Although, I admit, I can't tell them apart."

"Accept it," Lauren murmured.

"Clever girl," Evony smirked. "You have one hour before I despatch a cleaning crew with orders to kill anything still moving. You have survived the day, and are free, by virtue of the Dark Fae. You have life because I have granted it to you." The savage queen's gaze was as dark and sparkling as the night sky. "Don't forget this precious gift."

The final look that the she spared the women was one of frost and daggers, which chilled them all to the core. Summoning her entourage, the glamorous leader turned her back, underlining the ordeal as complete, and confidently walked away.

The remaining dreadnought, having been handed the cell key by a member of his brethren, watched the departure of his mistress with longing. Devotion was etched all over his otherwise unremarkable features. As soon as she was gone from his sight, his duty took precedence, and he strode to the cell door to free the prisoners.

Exhausted by the effort of holding the much heavier succubus upright to face their enemy, Lauren urged Kenzi to assist her in helping Bo to the metal cot. Realizing that the dark woolen blanket was still sticky with blood, Kenzi stripped it from the threadbare mattress and discarded it. With one hand pressed against her injury, groaning softly, Bo gingerly sat down on the edge of the bunk.

"I just need a moment." Bo said wearily. "Did you know what she would do?"

Opting to ignore the faint hint of accusation in Bo's tone, Lauren cautiously probed her lover's stab wound. The doctor was quietly relieved that the healing, while incomplete, had been sufficient to stabilize the damaged tissue and prevent any further blood loss.

"Not until she drew the sword," Lauren mused. "I've heard of it, but it's considered archaic andI know the Light don't practice it. Should a human earns that right, they are simply altered and sent away."

"Earns it?" Bo echoed, before wincing at the doctor's touch.

"Honorable death," Lauren admitted. "I think the Morrigan performing the act herself was a respectful kill, execution by equal rather than being taken as prey."

"Why?" Bo protested, before hissing a sharp breath of pain. She waved off the accompanying apology as she glanced over Lauren's shoulder to check Kenzi's progress in running interference against the dreadnought. The trickster was clearly exasperating him, but he seemed to lack the will to brush her aside.

"I'm not sure," Lauren responded, as her instinct to play her cards close to her chest tried to assert itself in the face of Bo's patient regard. Determined to prove her trust, Lauren pushed herself to answer. "But I have a hypothesis. I think that this could mean she's at least a little aware of your potential and didn't want to risk triggering your rage." Lauren rested her hand on Bo's bare knee. "I could feel how angry you were, I'm sure she could see it."

Bo nodded her understanding of Lauren's suggestion. "I couldn't have done anything," she whispered. "I don't know how."

"But she didn't know that, and was apparently unwilling to gamble." Lauren's thumb rubbed Bo's knee in reassurance as the massive dreadnaught loomed over them both. "Are you all right to do this? I know it hurts."

"I need it because it hurts," Bo conceded. "Lauren, I..."

The kind-spirited blonde woman lightly touched her fingers to Bo's mouth to still her words. "No apology," Lauren corrected. "Kenzi and I will be right outside, waiting for you."

"You won't..?" Bo's voice trailed off as the thought within made her stomach churn uneasily.

"Watch?" Lauren finished for Bo. "No, I wasn't planning to." The doctor summoned her courage. "I don't want to, but if you don't feel safe with him, I'll stay."

The waiting dreadnought stood a little straighter and stuck out his chest. "The Morrigan told me that she must not come to any harm," he stated plainly.

Lauren took a deep breath to steady herself once more, before standing toe to toe with the solid Fae warrior. Although Lauren was barely tall enough to reach his chin, she squared her shoulders, then dipped her brow into the sternest frown that she could muster. "She is injured, you will be very careful," Lauren scolded firmly.

"I will be careful," the obedient dreadnaught echoed placidly.

The Fae woman carefully cradled her wound as she reached out to Lauren, clasped her hand, before lacing their fingers together for a moment of unity. "It's OK, I'll be all right," Bo sighed, as her reluctance battled with her growing need.

Tapping deeply into her powers of forbearance, Lauren shone a gracious smile to her lover. "I'll be waiting."

Exhausted and craving chi, frustration added color to Bo's cheeks in response to the light brush of Lauren's soft lips against Bo's forehead. A wave of relief washed through Bo's abused form, as Lauren again made her acceptance clear, but words eluded her.

Taking care to keep her head held high, Lauren led Kenzi from the cell to at least allow Bo the illusion of privacy. The poor illumination inside the expansive warehouse space left menacing shadows and gloom that both Lauren and Kenzi resolutely avoided. Without needing to debate, the two human women remained close to one another to feel some sense of safety.

Almost by compulsion, Lauren and Kenzi approached the body which the Dark Fae had left behind for the cleaners. The Morrigan's decisive sword stroke had been powerful, clean, and precise enough to drive the point down through Jaime's chest cavity and pierce her heart. Dead before she had fallen to the grimy concrete, Jaime's blood seeped from the wound to form a shiny puddle.

"Who do you think she was?" Kenzi bit at her thumbnail as her widened glacial blue eyes swept over Jaime's sprawled body. Lauren sighed sadly and shrugged her answer. "Where will they bury her?" the younger woman continued.

"Not now the cleaners have been called," Lauren admitted. "Carrion eaters, organ harvesters, rituals." The doctor studiously kept her attention turned away from Kenzi, so not to view the young woman's horror at the truth. "There's nothing we can do for her."

Taking care not to nudge Jaime's loose limbs, or step in the slowly spreading crimson pool, Kenzi crouched down and pushed a small hand into the one of the pockets of Jaime's pants.

"What are you doing?" Lauren demanded sharply, as Kenzi stuffed the bills that she had found into her cleavage.

"Looking to see if she is carrying any ID." Finding nothing useful, Kenzi gripped Jaime's belt, then tugged until the body rolled onto its side to expose a back pocket. "I doubt the Dark would care, but there might be someone waiting for her to come home."

Lauren wondered, as she had many times before, about the secrets that Kenzi kept carefully concealed. The young woman had hidden with Bo at the moment of slaughter, but had no obvious qualms about searching the dead. The theft seemed to be second nature, an act which Lauren suspected Kenzi may not even have realized that she had performed. Kenzi's calm, almost indifferent, actions contrasting with her quietly spoken concern of abandoned family.

"Her hand," Lauren offered. She turned her back more squarely to the cell behind them. "Look at her hand, Kenzi."

Jaime had lost the gloves that she had worn to protect herself from Bo's arcane touch. "Wedding ring," Kenzi agreed. The trickster's limit had been reached and she shared a hopeful glance with Lauren. "Could you?"

Lauren smoothly dropped to one knee and carefully took hold of Jaime's wrist. Only moments dead, the body was still warm and pliable. The plain gold band was snug, well worn, and required the doctor to tug it free of the knuckles. Lauren understood Kenzi's squeamishness without sharing it herself; death was far too commonplace in her life.

"Engraved?" Kenzi asked, once Lauren had worked the ring loose.

"A date, I think." Lauren turned the hoop slowly, after tilting it towards the meagre light. "Will that be enough for you to figure out who she was?"

"It's a start." Kenzi took to wedding band from Lauren and concealed it within an inner pocket for later consideration. "Are you all right, Doc?"

Neither woman could ignore the increasingly vigorous sounds of copulation from the cell any longer. Lauren took a deep calming breath to center herself, a habit that she had long cultivated and refined. "You know how I feel." Lauren offered her hand and hauled Kenzi to her feet. "Bo has always been free to do whatever she needs. But from now on we just take extra care to look out for each other."

"And you make a lot more cupcakes?" Kenzi added impishly, unable to resist the opportunity to tease.

"I said that I would make them for you any time you wanted," Lauren said carefully, taking note of the deceptive ease with which Kenzi seemed able to deflect her distress.

Kenzi pouted to strengthen her facade. "Does this mean I have two mommies?" she jibed, then snickered wickedly at the eye-roll that her words earned her.

Distracted from a further retort, Lauren squared her jaw and narrowed her lips as the sounds of Bo's passion escalated towards fever pitch in order to reach the optimum state for efficient feeding. The dreadnought made no sound other than the frenetic squeaking of the bunk as he thrust, conscientiously obeying only the orders of his queen rather than any desire which he may have felt.

Puckish merriment faded from Kenzi's elfin features, and she lightly squeezed Lauren's elbow for solidarity. "How did you get to be so strong?"

Acknowledging the honesty in Kenzi's earnest gaze, Lauren chanced resting a hand on the slight girl's shoulder. "Life gives you challenges and you either rise or you fall." Lauren tilted her head to see Kenzi's face, before mustering a confidently reassuring smile. "You know that already, don't you?"

Confronted by Lauren's serenity, feeling raw and exposed, the small thief turned her eyes away, but did not pull free from the kind touch.

Bo's quick stride, boot heels rapping sharply against the concrete, shook the two human women from their silent contemplation. The succubus stood tall, and walked with an added fluid swing through her hips, as fresh energy filled her with vitality. "Ready to get out of here?" she asked. "This place is giving me the creeps."

Alone with their own private thoughts, each of the three women spared a final look at their empty prison and fallen captor, before hurrying away to avoid the cleaners.


	10. Chapter 10

The journey back to Bo and Kenzi's ramshackle house taxed the human women to their limit. Bo's gentle suggestions to rest, and her request that Lauren stay close rather than travel to her solitary home, were met with little resistance.

Preparing for bed was a comfortingly prosaic exercise. Simple domesticity served as a balm to fear and pain. Kenzi excused herself first, to change into red and black pajamas, then amble to the kitchen to forage for a snack.

Lauren borrowed a T-shirt from Bo to sleep in. She lifted her eyebrows at the word _Security_, which was emblazoned across her chest. Bo answered the unspoken question with a sheepish grin. As the garment was fitted for Bo's more generous curves, the hem just skimmed the very top of the lean doctor's thighs.

Lauren stripped off her underwear, intending to rinse them out for the morning. Bo waved off her idea with a casual hand and insisted that she simply borrow some. The doctor chuckled to herself as she considered that Bo did not own much in the way of demure clothing. Resigning herself to being uncomfortable, and secretly pleased by the intimate act of sharing, Lauren discretely observed Bo in the bathroom mirror.

The freshly showered succubus more than illustrated the doctor's silent musing, as they stood side by side at the sink to clean their teeth. For sleepwear, Bo had selected a matching cami and thong in rich lace-trimmed indigo silk, which offered tantalizing glimpses of her voluptuous form.

The fair-haired woman's mouth watered at the luscious curves on unabashed display. In turn, Bo relished secretly viewing the lower curve of her lover's shapely rear, or her neat golden curls, as the T-shirt hem rode up. The lovers sent one another appreciative glances as they finished their routines and moved to the bedroom.

Aware of Lauren's rising state of desire radiating from her, as clean and pure as a halo, Bo found herself charmed by her lover's hesitation, as Lauren's expressive eyes dipped downward in thoughtful consideration.

Lauren mentally replayed the night that she had come to Bo's home to seek elusive sleep in the aftermath of Nadia's death. Bo had let her speak, listened to her fears and doubts, held her through her tears, and then cradled Lauren in strong arms while she slept. She had woken up sprawled on top of Bo, comfortably nestled in her cleavage, and clinging to her like ivy. The brunette had met her bashful frown with a patient easy-going grin that was just Bo, then dismissed Lauren's protests that she had been up all night with one simple declaration: _"I was keeping you safe."_

Bo quietly closing the glass-paneled bedroom doors to block the noise of Kenzi's efforts in the kitchen. "Lauren?" Bo began, gesturing to the bed that the doctor was gazing at in silent reverie, "is this OK?"

Lauren's eyes refocused on the generous bed, on its plush and feminine plum-colored satin sheets and pillows, before feeling a mild flush shade her cheeks pink in anticipation. "I was wondering," Lauren tried hard not to give in to the urge to babble as Bo regarded her with amusement, "which side you wanted?"

"I don't mind," Bo chuckled. "Make yourself comfortable."

More used to frantically tumbling into bed with Bo, tugging at each other's clothing as their passion lead the way, Lauren sat on the edge of the bed and self-consciously pressed her knees together before she slid her legs beneath the covers.

The chill of the icy smooth fabric sent a sharp thrill racing along Lauren's spine, piquing her nerves and making her nipples harden. An eager shiver ran through her body as the satin sheet flowed against her bare legs, draped her hips and waist, and awakened exquisite tactile sensation wherever it touched her.

One corner of Bo's mouth lifted in a crooked smile as she viewed Lauren's physical response to savoring the luxury of her bed. As soon as Lauren had settled with a sigh of contentment, Bo circled the bed to take the free side. Bo noted that her lover was viewing the motion of her hips and the sway of her breasts as she walked with unapologetically keen interest. Unable to resist offering temptation, reveling in the frank appreciation of her figure, Bo reclined on her bed and stretched slowly for Lauren's viewing pleasure.

Despite the weariness etched across her features, Lauren unconsciously moistened her bottom lip as her gaze cruised Bo's form. She lingered over shapely legs, then the enticing strip of skin between Bo's cami top and her thong, before alighting on Bo's full breasts.

Lauren's warm welcoming desire flared into vibrant life, in defiance of her fatigue, as Bo greeted her frank study with a wicked grin and a smoldering perusal of her own. Without needing a word of invitation, the two women surrendered to longing and reached for one another.

Bo accepted Lauren into her arms, reclining against plush pillows to accept the blonde's lean weight on top of her. Bo parted her legs to make space for her ardent lover's thigh, taking Lauren's groan of appreciation in her mouth as she bowed her head for a kiss.

The lovers kissed softly and gently, neither seeking to deepen the embrace. The quiet sounds of mouths capturing and sucking softly on pliant lips, as delicate tongues brushed tenderly together, blended with muted exhalations and murmurs of pleasure. Their eyes drifted closed to better savor sweet and mild kisses, which flowed easily between them.

Relishing how their bodies fitted together like puzzle pieces, Lauren trusted Bo to bear some of her weight. The lanky blonde cupped a practiced hand against Bo's breast, exploring her lover's generous curves through the glossy silk and rough lace of Bo's lingerie. Lauren delighted in the gliding strokes of her palm, and the contrasting coarseness of the elaborate trim, as she rubbed Bo's excited nipple to make her shudder.

Bo's own hands were never still as her lover caressed her. Bo toured the sculpted muscles of Lauren's back and shoulders through the comfortable cotton T-shirt, before feeling Lauren smiling against her mouth as Bo's knowing hands travelled down her body.

Dextrous fingers journeyed to the hem of the shirt, then lower still to ghost against the backs of Lauren's thighs. The whisper-light touch tempted a squirm, and a hum of pleasure, from the honey-haired woman. Bo pushed the T-shirt out of her way, exposing flawless skin and supple flesh, then grazed her neat fingernails upwards, from smooth thighs to the swell of Lauren's bare behind.

As their kisses began to deepen in earnest, the lover's sensual touching drew sultry moans from one another. Lauren rubbed the pad of her thumb over and around Bo's aching nipple, using the contrast between the fabrics as a delicious torment against the rigid peak, until Bo was gasping in bliss. Lauren adjusted her hips to press more intently against Bo, entangling their legs and searching for a moment of relief.

In return, Bo's strong hands kneaded Lauren's backside. Bo massaged firmly, parting her, before dipping down to brush impudent tickles against Lauren's neatly trimmed crease. The touch from behind, teasing and tantalizing, enticed a fresh throaty groan from the human woman.

The succubus felt her nerves beginning to blaze, as the familiar and always-present energetic life force within called on her to surrender to lust, take control and ravish her lover. Bo confounded her hunger with faith; trusting that Lauren would be strong, centered and confident enough in herself and her desires to match Bo's passion. "Lauren, please."

The softly murmured benediction thrilled Lauren, filling her chest with liquid heat, then sent an urgent pulse down between her legs. Slipping a thin cami strap from her shoulder, Lauren lowered the neckline to expose Bo's luscious breast. Bo arched her back as Lauren curled her softened tongue around her nipple and suckled; firmly at first, then with an even and gentle tempo.

Bo's hands roamed Lauren's hips, drawing her closer so that she could guide the steady friction of bodies grinding together in tempo with the loving mouth at her breast. Once satisfied by their carnal rhythm, the succubus' touch drifted lower. Bo teased Lauren's labia, sampling her rising moisture, before grasping her cheeks to deliver a lewd squeeze which dredged another deep chesty groan from the blonde.

Longing to feel naked skin, Bo captured the hem of the T-shirt and began to lift. "I want you," Bo breathed.

Her dark eyes sparkling with good humor, and a bright corona of aroused desire glowing around her, Lauren broke the eager suckle. Lifting up from Bo so that the shirt could be drawn from her, Lauren purred, "Then have me."

The first rapping of knuckles on glass was so quiet and shy that the lovers, lost in giving one another pleasure, missed it. The second, a little louder but still hesitant, dragged their reluctant attention to the glass-paneled door.

With her face studiously turned away from the clear view into the bedroom, black hair loose and falling in swathes around her face, Kenzi tilted her head to try and discern if the knocking had been noticed. "Guys? Are you still up?" the young woman called.

Catching her breath from their deep kisses, and trying not to tremble beneath the shapely limb pressing against her sex, Bo exchanged concerned glances with Lauren. Signaling an apology with her eyes, Bo received a nod in response. "Yeah, we're awake," Bo answered.

Beyond the glass Kenzi nodded absently, then reached for the door handle, before pausing once more. "Are you guys, like, naked?"

Scrambling apart, Bo straightened the neck of her cami to cover her breast. Beside her, Lauren tugged down the hem of her shirt to deprive Bo of her view of taut creamy skin. "No," they chorused.

Taking her friend's words as an invitation, Kenzi let herself into the bedroom. The pajama-clad woman's sleepy gaze rested for a moment on the two lovers, before she cringed a little in embarrassment. "Sorry for messing up your mojo."

Lauren pushed a hand through her bed-rumpled hair. "No, it's OK, Kenzi." Lauren offered her a mild smile. "We're tired and ready to sleep."

The smooth ease with which Lauren deflected Kenzi's agitated concern brought a disapproving frown from Bo. The doctor brushed off the scold with a discrete shake of her head and the briefest flare of stern warning.

"What's up, Kenz?" Bo asked, stubbornly turning her face away from Lauren.

The smaller woman's turbulent nerves sketched lines of stress on her dainty features. "I don't feel good," she sighed.

"I'll get my bag." Careless of her state of undress, Lauren pushed back the satin sheet.

"No, Doc," Kenzi quickly interrupted, "I don't mean that." The normally verbose woman, used to relying on her quick wits and clever words, found herself bereft. Kenzi miserably scrubbed at her brow, before folding her arms tightly over her modest chest in a pose of pure self-protection.

Kenzi's brittle distress pulled at Lauren's sympathetic senses. The youngest of the trio, the one most detached from death, was buckling beneath painful memories and exposure to the Dark. Lauren lightly touched Bo's shoulder to catch her attention. "I'll grab some blankets from the footlocker and sleep on the couch." The rest of Lauren's statement remained unsaid between them: _She needs you_.

Kenzi blinked wearily and rubbed at her eyes, a gesture that made her look so much younger than her years. "No, you should be together, I'm sorry."

Bo shared another glance with Lauren, and was pleased to find a reflection of her own warm regard. Whatever disappointment Lauren may have felt for the interruption to their lovemaking was carefully concealed as she nodded her understanding and acceptance.

"Hey, Kenz, it's OK," Bo coaxed. "Lauren's going to scoot over, there's room." Bo softened her voice to relax her younger friend's fracturing emotions, and set aside her pride. "We were just turning in, it's no big deal."

Contented and comforted by Bo's suggestion, Kenzi paused at the edge of Bo's spacious bed as the two women made adjustments for her. Although the succubus' natural habitat was generous enough for them all to have plenty of room, Bo's offer to the slender thief to slide closer was gratefully accepted.

With her head propped up on her elbow, her palm cupping her chin, Lauren smiled fondly as Bo settled on her back and wrapped her arm around Kenzi. The pale-skinned girl rested quietly against Bo's shoulder, before closing eyes that Lauren realized had been on the verge of tears.

For almost an hour, the honorable Fae woman held Kenzi close; allowing her to burrow against her neck, then soothing her with a slow and measured rubbing of her back and shoulders.

Watching Bo gifting kindness and security to Kenzi, Lauren felt her heart brimming with adoration. She had experienced for herself that the practical Fae woman did not even think to question simple acts of companionship; Bo's capacity for selflessly granting loving support to her friends was as much a part of her as her indomitable spirit.

As she realized that she was being observed, Bo raised her affectionate gaze to Lauren, and received a simple chaste kiss in response. The honey-haired woman gave Bo her familiar broad smile, before speaking softly on an exhaled breath. "Does she do this often?"

"Sometimes," Bo whispered, "when it's really bad. She makes her choices too, but sometimes it's just a little harder. She's not done this not since she ended with Nate." Bo sighed at her own words, and the burden behind them.

Lauren leaned over Bo's chest, surprising her by moving so close to Kenzi that she looked as if she was intending to kiss the young woman goodnight. "What are you doing?" Bo asked.

Sparing Bo a critical glance, Lauren inhaled deeply by Kenzi's nose and mouth before returning to her pillow. "I don't smell tequila or wine. Is there vodka in the house?" Secure in her beliefs, Lauren stood her ground against Bo's disapproving frown. "Your body will treat any amount of alcohol like a poison and will metabolize it like any other toxin. She can't hope to keep up with you, you need to be careful."

"She's not drunk," Bo protested. "She puts up a front, but she just feels so much sometimes. Something about that woman really got to her."

Lauren smiled fondly at her lover's urge to defend the youngest of the trio. "Does she tell you much about her past?" Lauren studied the ceiling briefly, before giving a conceding chuckle. "Or at least, does she ever tell the same story the same way twice?"

Bo softly hushed Kenzi as she became restless, then sent a sharper glare to Lauren, which the doctor acknowledged with a tilt of her head. "What are you thinking?" Bo asked.

"Something she said to me about Jaime leaving someone behind," Lauren answered, carefully keeping her voice only just audible. "If she sets her mind to it, she's very intuitive about people."

"She's a con artist," Bo reasoned. "A good one."

"We found a clue to who Jaime was," Lauren added.

Bo accepted the unsubtle hint without a moment of doubt. "We'll get on it in the morning." She received another light and sweet kiss from Lauren in acknowledgment. "I'm sorry we got interrupted."

"There will be other chances, other times," Lauren answered amiably. "You're her family." The glowing smile of pride, which spread across the succubus' mouth and made her eyes shine, sent a profound wave of love through Lauren's body.

"Get some sleep," Bo offered gently. "We'll talk tomorrow."


	11. Chapter 11

Lauren's sleepy mind noticed warmth first; from the natural heat of a body pressed against her own, and from arms which held her close. Not yet awake enough to manage words, Lauren hummed her approval, before tightening her embrace to greet her bedmate and welcome her to the morning. Fatigued by the strain of their captivity, Lauren kept her eyes closed through the soft kisses which were brushed against her temple.

The gliding of smooth bare legs, as her partner adjusted her position to be closer still, stirred a soft sigh of contentment from the exhausted doctor. The sensation of Bo's flawless skin and supple muscles, as their legs were entwined and a thigh insinuated itself between Lauren's, drew a further, deeper groan from her.

The uncomplicated pleasure of being held, the reassurance and simple affection that stemmed from it, prompted Lauren to burrow against Bo and nuzzle her neck. Lauren's senses filled with the familiar scent of her lover. The pleasing blend of the products that Bo favored, and her natural womanly fresh aroma, comforted her.

The drowsy blonde gradually realized that the soft exhalations against her brow no longer had the measured cadence of a woman at rest. Taking advantage of their full-body embrace, Bo was beginning to hitch her breathing in time with the slow and subtle rubbing of her breasts against Lauren's chest.

As her wakefulness steadily improved, Lauren felt tender lips first graze a row of kisses along her hairline, then trail a whisper-light path down to her ear, along her jawline, and over to the corner of her mouth. The soft kisses were accompanied by quiet pants of growing arousal.

Resisting the imperative to start the day, Lauren kept her eyes resolutely shut as she allowed herself a mild stretch within the safe circle of Bo's arms. She delighted in the friction and mounting excitement of awakening skin on skin as Bo kissed her throat, then eased her palm beneath the borrowed T-shirt to glide a path along Lauren's flank.

"Kenzi?" Lauren murmured, her mind full of images of sharing bed space.

The name was met with an amused chuckle. "No." Bo caressed the inviting pulse point in Lauren's neck with pliant lips. "Should I be worried?"

Lauren's weary mind, distracted by Bo's easy sensuality, conjured an image of the goth girl kissing the stricken Fae woman with as much desire as she could summon. The capacity to focus still eluding her, Lauren wondered if Bo had a memory of the trick which had been used to provoke a feed.

"She's been gone for a while," Bo provided, between small nips and kisses. "She's calmer now, and wanted her own bed."

Bo's deft fingers teased the waking woman's hardening nipple, grazing it with her fingernails to tempt the tender flesh fully erect. The clever touch defeated Lauren's ability to concentrate on anything other than the heat of pleasure, which spread through her breasts and focused in stiff peaks that ached to feel Bo's mouth.

Lauren nodded her understanding through the mental fog that still lingered. Shivering as her nerves sparked into life at Bo's skillful loving, Lauren felt her sex beginning to dampen Bo's thigh. The fair-haired woman smiled to herself as she considered that being cuddled awake by an amorous succubus was the most enjoyable alarm call of her life.

"I couldn't wait any longer," Bo admitted, between exploratory kisses over Lauren's collarbone. Her need rang clearly in her husky tone and the slow rocking of her hips.

Relaxing into her pillow, Lauren urged her lover to cover her. "You're always welcome, Bo."

Lauren's desire, a slow burn from the moment that she had felt Bo's gentle overtures, flared fiercely into life. The flattery of Bo's lust, the clever fingers plucking and rubbing at her nipple, and the doctor's own innate unapologetic passion stirred the heat within her to a fever. Lauren luxuriously smoothed her hands up Bo's lean back, then across her tensed shoulders, before threading her fingers through the succubus' lustrous hair. The blonde guided Bo to her mouth and melted beneath her searing kiss.

Trembling with longing of her own, Lauren arched her back and joined Bo in grinding their bodies together. The urge to tug Bo's lingerie from her - to bare her skin, caress her breasts, and taste her - made Lauren's heart race. Her own passion, as pure and powerful as Bo's, begged her to put the succubus onto her back and make love every inch of her

The lovers broke their kiss to catch their breath. Lauren watched Bo search her face with smoldering eyes, as the backs of her knuckles rubbing steadily against Lauren's aching nipples. "Please," Bo said, her voice thick with carnal intent, "just let me."

Lauren was not surprised that Bo had picked up on her dilemma. Bo's sixth sense for lust, an ability that was as natural to her as breathing, would have become alerted to the impulse within Lauren that clamored for her to take control. With no preternatural talents of her own, blinking through her fatigue and the stoking of her own desire, Lauren studied her lover's face.

The doctor immediately recognized that strain was narrowing Bo's eyes, making her predatory, and her discomfort was clear. The Fae woman's excitement had been primed and then quashed, leaving her with an acute need for sex which was testing her discipline. Alarmed that Bo's endurance had been stretched to breaking point as her lover slept, Lauren asked, "Bo? Did you sleep last night?"

Bo shone her hallmark lop-sided grin. "No, I didn't need to." The fact that Bo had been filled with energy from the dreadnought remained unspoken, although her answer did not address her current struggle. "And it just felt like you and Kenzi needed me more."

Lauren heard Bo's words from the warehouse clearly inside her mind: _I don't want to be a succubus with you_. Determined to lead the way, to demonstrate acceptance with both her body and her heart, Lauren yielded to Bo's hunger; not to feed, but to lose herself in the passion which Bo could not easily express in any other way.

Surrendering to lust came easily to Lauren. Offering herself wantonly, she pulled her knees up either side of Bo's lean form. Lauren rolled her hips as she curled her limbs around Bo's shapely form, earning a throaty groan in response. Pressing her breast more intently into Bo's hand, Lauren used her body to ask for the touch that would send liquid heat to her sex and help make her ready.

Bo's next kiss was hot and deep, her questing tongue teased Lauren's eager mouth open before slipping inside to explore her. The raw power of Fae, ethereal and charismatic, thrilled Lauren. Challenging herself to match Bo's voracious desire, Lauren moaned hedonistic praise between kisses as Bo pinched and plucked at her stiff nipples in tempo with her grinding thrusts.

Giving and taking pleasure in harmony, Lauren's hands drifted over Bo's back, glorying in the powerful fluid motion of muscles beneath perfect skin, before sliding lower and grasping her hips. Under Lauren's guidance, and amplified by her ferocious appetite, Bo's thrusts rose in urgency until she was surging against her lover. Lauren urged Bo to take her, and met Bo's vigor with her own.

Taken by surprise by the volatile intensity of their lovemaking, Lauren shuddered through an abrupt and hectic orgasm. The breathtaking climax sent an ecstatic blaze of pleasure through her body, which erupted from her mouth in formless cries of joy.

As Lauren trembled through the aftershocks of her climax, the succubus grinned against her lips. "Again?" Bo breathed.

Startled by her own responsiveness to her lover, Lauren reconciled that she had never thought to question Bo's easy mastery of her body, the knowing touches and intuitive style, simply believing them to be a part of loving Bo. Lauren's clitoris was still swollen and throbbing, her excitement not yet sated, and she felt her sex clench in readiness for more.

Reason, and the need to catch her breath after Bo's sensual ambush, defeated Lauren's craving. She cupped Bo's fine-boned features in her palms, before letting herself drown for a moment in Bo's expressive chestnut eyes. The involuntary memory of Bo's eyes turning blue for her in the cage immediately dampened Lauren's intoxicating heat.

"What is it?" Bo murmured.

"You're so beautiful," she answered softly. The simple statement produced a faint blush, which charmed Lauren and distracted her from the weight of her lover lying between her thighs.

Bo turned her face towards Lauren's hand, kissing the heart line on her palm in gratitude, before returning her cheek to the touch that she prized. "Tell me, please?" Bo encouraged, taking care to not sound accusatory. "There's something worrying you?"

Either as the aftermath of a sexual connection between them, or because Bo had learned to effectively read her habit of internalizing her concerns, Lauren suspected that her thoughts were too transparent and obvious to deny. "I'm sorry for what happened in the cell, Bo, all of it."

"It wasn't your fault," Bo calmly reasoned. "We couldn't have guessed how far she would really go. Jaime was the one who hurt me, no one else. You and Kenzi saved me."

"I never wanted to make you. I never wanted you to not have any choice." Lauren made no effort to conceal her sorrow. "I know how much it matters to you, Bo, and I feel like I've taken something from you."

"You saved me," Bo patiently repeated.

"I violated you." Taking advantage of Bo's nature hurt more deeply than Lauren had allowed herself to notice when they were inside their jail. The confession was excruciating, and felt like a shameful affront to the glorious gift of newly shared intimacy. "I made you, I did it to you, I took away your right to choose for yourself. And I would do it again if I had to. I'm sorry, Bo."

Bo slipped her hand from Lauren's T-shirt, then used it to brace herself and relieve Lauren of some of her weight. The porcelain skin of Bo's brow was furrowed in a thoughtful frown. For a few anxious heartbeats Lauren wondered if Bo even remembered the coercion that she had been subjected to.

"Lauren, you did what you had to," Bo insisted. "I have no control over my body works, I never chose to be Fae, but because of you I now know that I can choose what I feel, and how I live my life." Bo glanced down at the flush fit of her body against Lauren's, as if they were made for one another, then confidently met her lover's earnest eyes once more. "This is my choice."

Words full of conflict, protests at how hard Bo had tried to resist and deny the necessity of taking sustenance, faded on the doctor's lips. Lauren conceded that forcing Bo to face her mortality, demand that she re-live the feeding, and then expect forgiveness for it, would be another violation.

Lauren drew Bo close enough to share a brief sweet kiss, giving Bo endorsement and gratitude for her beliefs, and willing an end to the questions between them. The conversation about what Lauren had felt, beyond pain and lust, during the divine connection of a chi link between a succubus and her chosen prey, could wait.

"This is what you choose?" Lauren repeated, as she found her serenity in acceptance. Without a moment of doubt, Bo nodded at once. "Then show me."

Lauren submitted to her lover, her mouth already opening as Bo sought another deep kiss. To feed the hunger that grew between them, the two women shared a luscious embrace, before Lauren buried her hands in Bo's silky hair and urged her lower.

The careful shackles, which Bo placed on her craving for her lover's body, were loosened, and nuanced subtlety was swept away. Bo confidently pushed up the hem of the borrowed T-shirt, baring Lauren's firm breasts, and then bowed her head to take a raspberry-shaded nipple into her mouth. Bo swirled her tongue around the erect peak, before sucking fiercely to draw an throaty and appreciative moan from her lover.

Lauren luxuriated in the firm tugs at her nipples, first one side and then the other, and the trail of kisses sketched between them. The steady pulls contrasted with the light scraping of teeth and the soft licks to balm the sting of gentle bites. Powerful hands, the hands of a warrior as well as a lover, massaged Lauren's breasts as she was suckled.

Lauren finger-combed Bo's glossy hair, scratching and stroking softly at the nape of Bo's neck, as the succubus made love to her breasts. Bo's appetite for sex was as intense as her need to satisfy her uncanny hunger. While playing with the ebb and flow of power in bed was exhilarating, Bo's need was more immediate.

Lauren reveled in the trust that Bo granted her. The succubus lowered her guard as much as she could, showing no fear in allowing Lauren see her vulnerable to the demanding physical truth of her species. That Bo could hurt her, could extinguish her life with ease, was a heady thrill which Lauren did not dare to consider beyond being sure that the gamble was worthwhile just to be with Bo.

For the faintest of moments, Lauren felt an insidious shadow of envy deep within herself. Bo's future prey would feel the sublime ethereal connection, and any Fae choices could receive the full force of the exquisite bond.

In defiance of her own insatiably curious self, Lauren conceded that Bo's nature would remain an enigma between them. If Bo's sexuality pushed Lauren, challenged her and made her soar, then she would relish it. Inspired by love and loyalty, without compromise, Lauren chose Bo.

Bo kissed a meandering path over Lauren's breasts, exploring the outer and lower curves of shapely flesh with delicate brushes of her lips and tongue. Nearly dizzy with overwhelming arousal, Lauren's grudging thoughts melted away beneath the pure and simple truth of Bo's nature; her biology was eclipsed by the soul of a loving woman.

Lauren's body twitched in anticipation as Bo began to nuzzle a questing path down her sternum, before drifting in loops across the lean planes of her stomach. Lauren's abdominal muscles flexed as Bo's tongue danced around her navel, and then jostled the discrete gold piercing which had made Bo chuckle the first time that she saw it.

Pulling a pillow behind her head for support, Lauren surveyed the length of her lithe body. The rucked up fabric of her shirt made space for sure hands to slide confidently over her breasts and tease blushing nipples, which were still gleaming from Bo's mouth. Adept fingers on her saliva-slick peaks sent near painful jolts of excitement searing down through Lauren's belly to bloom between her legs.

Lauren allowed one thigh to be guided onto Bo's shoulder, before stretching her other knee up and to the side, to make space and open herself as Bo journeyed lower. The brunette paused briefly at the dusky blonde patch of hair gracing Lauren's sex, the tip of her nose bumping against neat hair, as she breathed in her lover's scent.

Grasping at the bed sheet with one hand, to anchor herself for the first touch of Bo's knowledgeable mouth, Lauren cradled the back of Bo's neck with the other, before welcoming her to her body with a deep groan of satisfaction.

Light and sensual kisses against her crease commanded a fiercely intense shake of pleasure from Lauren. Bo followed the kisses with the lightest sweep of a softened tongue, from Lauren's opening to her clitoris. The lick bathed tender folds and tempted another gasp from deep inside the blonde's chest. Lauren's eyes drifted shut, so that she could savor the bliss of her lover's talented mouth, as Bo began to feast in earnest.

Pushed quickly to the brink of orgasm by Bo's finesse, almost overcome by the urge to lose herself and drift in the warm seas of raw hedonism, Lauren battled to stay in the moment with her lover. "Oh, Bo," Lauren murmured, "slowly, go slowly."

Bo lifted her head up from her loving ministrations to favor Lauren with a wicked smirk. Bo's lips shone with Lauren's vital essence and, with her mischievous dark eyes locked firmly onto Lauren's, Bo licked them with unashamed relish. "Slowly?" she echoed.

Lauren waited while Bo curiously studied her face. She wondered if the succubus was replaying memories of insatiable lovemaking, of breathlessly pulling at one another's clothes and desperately baring skin, then vying for dominance as they sprawled to the bed. Bo narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, looking beyond to a place that Lauren knew she could never experience for herself.

"Can you see me?" Lauren whispered. "Can you see how much I want you?" Bo's answering swashbuckling smile was bright and full of lively passion. "Go slow so I can feel you," Lauren asked. "I don't want to miss a moment."

Bo's gaze mellowed in delight at the praise, and she acknowledged the request with gentle caressing kisses to Lauren's silky smooth inner thigh. Bo allowed her eyes to drift shut as she rubbed her cheek against the creamy skin, before inhaling deeply to steady herself and indulge her own craving for sensuality.

The unselfconscious act sent a fresh wave of liquid heat, profound in its strength and intensity, flowing through Lauren's body. Bo's measured exhaled breath bathed Lauren's sex, soothing and calming her quickened nerves and relieving the imminent pressure to orgasm. Taking care to keep her touch light, smiling in contentment as Lauren's excitement eased her way, Bo gently rubbed the backs of her knuckles against Lauren's tender labia.

Keen to sustain eye contact with Bo, and view the unabashed enjoyment with which her gracious lover tempted and excited her body, Lauren folded one arm behind her head to support herself. Lauren trailed the fingers of her free hand over Bo's forearm as it flexed with each soft rub, before guiding her lover's hand lower. "I need you in me," Lauren urged.

The dark-haired woman's mouth creased in an easygoing smile once more. "Slowly?" Bo teased quietly, as her fingertips began to softly tickle around her lover's opening.

Confident enough to signal her need, Lauren tilted her hips to offer herself, then groaned in throaty approval as Bo's fingers glided into her and stroked her deep inside. Lauren greeted the talented hand that caressed her snug walls with a gratified hum.

The brunette rained kisses over Lauren's abdomen, following the arch of her pelvis with her tongue, before nuzzling Lauren's flexing thighs as she bore down against Bo's fingers to try to take her deeper still. Bo's free hand cruised comfortably across Lauren's hips and waist, then traveled to her breasts to palm-rub her stiff nipples.

Lauren indulged in Bo's artful lovemaking, from the delicious sensations crafted by Bo's clever mouth, to the increasingly excited breathing which washed across Lauren's skin like warm silk. The random gentle bites, blended with tender kisses and luscious sweeps of Bo's tongue, made Lauren's nerves blaze into dizzying life. Skillful fingers curled inside her, and found the special places that made Lauren curse softly and arch her back

The goodnatured Fae woman massaged Lauren's swollen sweet spot, before scissoring her fingers within her to test the slick fluttering walls around them. "Ready to go a little faster?" Bo grinned.

Lauren reasoned that, even if Bo could not see the bright incandescence of her desire, she was experienced enough to know when her lover's body was demanding more. Lauren accepted the affectionate teasing with an amiable chuckle, then nodded eagerly and grasped at the bed sheet once more.

Lauren moaned softly in loss as Bo slipped from her, before gurgling a hungry moan as the succubus added a third finger and steadily eased her way back inside. Lauren breathed slowly to center herself as her body adjusted to the new sensation of being filled. Bo slowly rotated her hand, her dark eyes glittering in excitement, as an increasingly wolfish grin graced her lips.

Lauren melted into the smile, and into Bo's easy and seductive beauty, as the succubus relished the loving act between them. Despite her claim that she was going to up the pace, Bo's hand sustained its balanced rhythm as she stroked Lauren deftly.

Lauren consistently sounded her arousal, electrified by every touch, and luxuriated in Bo's knowing caresses. Bo's smoldering glances drank in every detail; from the tremors that ran irresistibly through Lauren's body, to her blissful gasps. Bo's lips pressed kiss after kiss to the thigh draped comfortably over her shoulder.

Light fingertips drew random patterns on the skin of Lauren's stomach and chest, tickled around her navel, then brushed against the peachy underside of her breasts. Gentle fingernails rolled and pinched Lauren's nipples until she was almost sobbing with excitement.

Lauren's dazzled mind imagined vital threads of arcane energy, from all the places that Bo had touched, racing through her like lightning and coalescing into a maelstrom of pleasure. In that moment of elation Lauren recognized that, if Bo had power over her, she would welcome it, just to lose herself in the glory of being the Fae woman's lover.

Lauren felt her muscles beginning to tighten as her body quickened like a summer tempest. She gasped words of praise and exaltation, alternately pleading and demanding that her lover take her to the edge, and then help her soar from it.

As she neared the pinnacle of feverish arousal, Lauren cried out in joy when Bo finally bowed her head and placed a warm open-mouthed kiss against her slick and swollen labia. Bo's lips sweetly caressed Lauren's delicate folds, nuzzled and nibbled at her, then teased her with deft laps at the base of her clitoris. Lauren shuddered helplessly beneath the long slow sweeps of a soft and flattened tongue that bathed every inch of her, before swirling around her stiff peak.

Lauren answered the generous attention by affectionately finger-combing Bo's glossy hair, then rubbing at the nape of her neck, as Bo switched effortlessly between deep satisfying stroking and the scintillating loving of her versatile mouth. A few more decisive thrusts, with Bo's fingers twisting and flexing deeply inside, drew a hard pre-orgasmic quake from Lauren.

Lauren felt no need to restrain herself. Prizing their profound connection, she gasped her rising urgency to her lover. "I'm close, so close. Make me come, Bo."

Lauren groaned out a curse as Bo softly suckled on her clitoris in a steady pulsing cadence, her adept tongue laving circles over and around the sensitized nerves. Bo's mouth and her fingers, together in sensual harmony, made the muscles in Lauren's belly clench tight and her back began to arch. The succubus reached for Lauren's hand with her own, grasping it and lacing their fingers together to offer an anchor.

Lauren felt her temperature surge and her heart race. Every nerve and fibre within her blazed with vibrant life. Calling out sounds with no form, driven only by desire and instinct, Lauren's orgasm erupted from her with cries of rapture.

Bo curled her fingers and withdrew just enough from Lauren's spasming and flooding sex to swirl around her opening and draw out the last few frantic rushes of climax. Bo tightened her grip between their linked hands, to help ground her lover, as intense aftershocks left Lauren dizzy and overwhelmed.

The powerful orgasm had sent a fierce fluid glow throughout Lauren's body, which left her feeling languid and spent. As her throat was sore from her cries of pleasure she could only moan huskily as Bo pressed a final kiss against her soft patch of fair pubic hair.

The loss of the delicious sensation of fullness left Lauren feeling open and vulnerable. As it brought forth a soft sob, and another rough post-orgasmic jolt, Lauren took a calming breath to try and center herself. Relaxing as Bo guided her leg back to the bed, Lauren used the anchoring grip between them to urge the lithe succubus to gracefully scale her body before easing her into a loving embrace.

Lauren welcomed Bo by seeking her mouth. She savored the blended earthy scent of herself on Bo's skin, and her essential flavor on Bo's lips, as they kissed. Body pressed against body, their legs entwined, Lauren felt Bo's sexual urgency wherever they touched.

Bo groaned softly into Lauren's mouth as they kissed, tugging and sucking on her lips as eagerly and thoroughly as she had kissed her lover's clitoris. Bo's intent was obvious in her ardent and provocative attention; she would grant a moment for Lauren to recover, but would quickly assert her innate urge to gift passion and command the energy of life.

Lauren cupped Bo's cheek in her free palm, gently broke the kiss, and then smiled at the small whisper-quiet murmur which signaled Bo's objection to losing the bond. The still-trembling blonde moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue, noting the last traces of her own flavor, before chuckling at Bo's mild scowl of petulant displeasure.

"Take this off," Lauren said, as she plucked at Bo's cami top, "I want to see you."

Without a trace of modesty, Bo straddled one of Lauren's legs and sat back on her heels so that she could peel her top off in one swift economic movement.

Lauren rested against her cool pillow and unashamedly feasted her eyes. Her hands stroked smooth circles on Bo's bare thighs, before sliding up over the flare of her hips to her slender waist. Lauren's gaze lingered on the dark silk triangle guarding Bo's closely shaved mound, and at the patch that was darker still from her arousal. As her attention drifted higher, Lauren admired her lover's elegant and womanly full lush curves. Lauren reached the succubus' fine features, and received a pleased grin at her open appreciation of Bo's body.

The unabashed smile faded in favor of an avid smolder as Bo's heightened appetite stirred into ascendancy. Unable to resist the longing that glowed feverishly from her lover, Lauren pushed up from the bed and wrapped her arms around Bo's enthralling form, then tilted her head back to meet Bo's kiss.

The embrace was fierce and demanding. As Bo began to grind her hips and press against Lauren's lap, the blonde opened her mouth to fuel the heat which was rising between them.

Bo broke away with a gasp. "I need to feel you," she demanded, as she tugged at Lauren's T-shirt. Her eyes shining with desire, Bo barely allowed the doctor to raise her arms before dragging the garment from her and discarding it with contempt.

The succubus drew Lauren close, to revel in the enticing friction of skin against skin, as the two women kissed once more. Humid tongues dueled for supremacy as they sounded their pleasure in quiet moans and sighs. Lauren slid her hands around Bo's waist, then up her flanks, before taking the weight of the dark-haired woman's breasts in her cupped palms and rubbing her thumbs over swollen nipples.

Lauren kissed a reverent path over Bo's chin and along the refined lines of her jaw, before pausing to nuzzle an earlobe until Bo whimpered quietly. Lauren traced brief licks, and grazes of her teeth, over Bo's neck and collar, then sucked softly over her fluttering pulse point. Lauren's adept fingers began to pluck and pinch Bo's nipples harder, to tempt her to press her damp center more firmly into Lauren's lap.

A sharper bite against vulnerable skin drew a deeper rough groan, almost a growl, from Bo. "Lauren," she warned huskily, "I'm not going to last."

"You don't have to," the blonde purred against Bo's healthy tanned skin. "You can let go, I know you need to." Lauren's mouth drifted back to Bo's ear. The tip of her tongue trailed along the outer edge, then tickled the delicate architecture inside until Bo shivered. The hot-blooded blonde slid a hand down between her lover's legs and rubbed the heel of her palm against Bo's labia. "I know you need to come," Lauren breathed. "I can feel you, Bo."

Lauren nudged aside Bo's underwear and eased inside her lover in one smooth stroke, before groaning her appreciation of the snug and slick channel that clenched around her fingers. Bo draped her arms around her lover's neck to balance herself. Spreading her knees wider granted more space for Lauren's hand, and allowed her to deepen the penetration.

Lauren felt Bo's sex begin to pulse and twitch around her agile fingers. She added her thumb and caressed the noble woman's clitoris, alternating rubbing the length of her and skimming the pearl-hard tip, until Bo was circling her hips and gasping her readiness to come.

The climax that had been brewing within Bo, churning liquid heat low in her groin and igniting flames of need through her whole body, burst from her mouth in a greedy frenzy of joy as her sex soaked Lauren's hand and her fingernails dug into her lover's shoulders.

Bo tightened her arms around Lauren, relying on her lover's lean sculpted strength to hold her tight, as wave after wave of orgasm tore through her with the ferocity of a flash flood. Bo rested her forehead on Lauren's shoulder as her life energy, born between her legs and spreading like a wildfire, surged through her muscles and made her shake.

"It's OK, I've got you," Lauren soothed. After slipping her fingers easily from Bo, she reciprocated the succubus' fierce embrace. "Needed this, right?"

Bo relaxed enough so that she could lean back and see Lauren's face, searching for a moment, before offering a guarded but honest nod of agreement.

Lauren returned the thoughtful study and saw peace taking the place of hunger in Bo's eyes. "Bo? I meant every word I said." Lauren spoke softly, grace coming easily to her. "I will treasure every moment I have with you, miss you when you are gone, and always welcome you home."

Lauren applied enough pressure to bear Bo to the bed, cover her with her body in sacred union, and be with her once more.


	12. Chapter 12

**EPILOGUE**

Well maintained marble headstones, embedded in recently mown fragrant grass, stretched out in neat ranks and columns within the cemetery. The wedding date engraved on the gold band had been enough to track Jaime's identity, and bring them all to the place of remembrance.

Three women dressed in black created their own path among the memorials. They followed a map, which the blonde woman consulted periodically from behind aviator sunglasses worn against the mid-morning brightness.

Lauren's staid and conservative pantsuit was a contrast to what the doctor suspected was a Chanel two piece suit knock-off, which Kenzi had procured through one of her innumerable cousins. A fascinator, topped with a bold raven feather, perched atop Kenzi's inky black hair and served as an anchor point for a beaded veil that curved over her pale delicate features. Although Kenzi wore the highest of heels, she was still as steady as a gazelle on the cultivated lawn.

Used to the colors of mourning, Bo had not changed outfit for the trip.

"This is it." Lauren folded the map and pocketed it.

The trio directed their attention to the creamy marble plaque and read the neat black enameled epitaph: _Adam Hardy, beloved husband to Jaime Hardy. Justin Hardy, treasured son_. Father and son had died on the same day.

"Were they killed by the Fae?" Bo's question was strained as her throat tightened with a blend of grief and unfocused anger. Official causes of death could be fabricated, they had all witnessed it for themselves.

"I couldn't find a record of them in the Light archives," Lauren answered, and then shrugged helplessly. "I can't see the Dark death lists." Lauren frowned uneasily at the ages recorded on the stone. "But children? I've never seen the Fae take a child. But if they were capable of it, they would be Dark."

"Bo, you have to let it go." Kenzi touched the succubus' elbow to catch her focus. "You can't owe the Morrigan another favor." The slender pickpocket slipped the wedding ring that Lauren had taken from Jaime into Bo's clenched fist. "And you know her, she'll just mess with your head."

With her face set in a stoic mask, Bo knelt on the neat grass and dug the wedding ring into the dirt by the grave marker. Wiping her hands on her pants leg, Bo sat back on her heels and glanced up at Lauren's ever-present calm, and the tears that rolled quietly down Kenzi's milky pale cheeks. Although her words would make her feel like a harbinger, Bo knew that she owed them both the dignity of honesty.

"The Fae won't stay secret forever," Bo sighed. "This isn't the Dark Ages and no one is making up fairy stories. The world is more connected, people are going to continue putting the pieces together, and one day we won't be able to hide anymore."

The sobering truth weighed on them all; that one person driven to retribution by grief, and armed with a little knowledge, had shown them all a foreshadowing of a battle which could drive their world to the edge of darkness and beyond.

Bo rose smoothly, rejoined the two human women in her life, and linked arms in a silent pledge to one another to stand together against the shadows and the monsters within.

Dec 2012


End file.
